Hybrid Ministry - Episodes Tagged with “Digital Ministry”

Episode 197: Custom vs Done-For-You Social Media for Churches

Nick Clason — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 05:00:00 -0500

Social Media is like the beast that never sleeps.
In this episode, I have two experts to argue both social media philosophies.
Should you use a pack that's done for you, so you can set it and forget it?
Or should you focus on more custom content for your church instagram feeds?

Find out, listen to the debate, and you decide!

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🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Social Media for Youth Ministry
00:39 The Guest Today?
01:53 Custom Social Intro
02:52 Done For You Intro
03:52 Why Done For You Social Media?
05:54 Why Custom Social Media is most effective
07:55 How Long Do You Spend on Social Media?
10:26 Have You Raised up Volunteers?
12:07 Done For You Closing Remarks
13:07 Custom Social Media Closing Argument

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TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:000 - 00:00:02:065
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Youth ministry debates. Welcome to the

00:00:02:065 - 00:00:02:112
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
fourth

00:00:03:002 - 00:00:03:076
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
and

00:00:03:086 - 00:00:04:075
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
debate

00:00:04:085 - 00:00:05:008
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
episode.

00:00:05:033 - 00:00:05:050
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And

00:00:05:050 - 00:00:07:110
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
in this one we are talking all things

00:00:08:013 - 00:00:10:077
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
social media, and I'm debating none

00:00:10:096 - 00:00:11:103
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
other than

00:00:11:113 - 00:00:27:037
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
myself. And I'm going to be taking two different stances. Stance number one is going to be on social media. That is done for you. You download it out of a pack and you just set it and forget it versus social media.

00:00:27:037 - 00:00:39:053
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
That is custom social media that has your own voice and your own face. And we're going to be going head to head. Myself versus myself. Welcome, everybody to the Hybrid Ministry show.

00:00:39:063 - 00:00:49:065
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Well, hey everybody, welcome to the Hybrid Minister's show. If you've not been following along, we are currently at the tail end of a playlist where we've been exploring big youth ministry

00:00:49:075 - 00:01:05:022
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
debates. And in this one, the debate is specifically centered around social media. And rather than trying to find another opposition or another person on the other side, I figured I would genuinely argue this position from each side of the social media aisle.

00:01:05:032 - 00:01:09:020
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Done for you versus custom for you. And so when I'm wearing a

00:01:09:033 - 00:01:10:111
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
black shirt, I'm going to be arguing

00:01:10:119 - 00:01:14:051
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
packs that are done for you, that are set it and forget it. Think

00:01:14:061 - 00:01:15:080
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Sunday social, think

00:01:15:080 - 00:01:19:015
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
nuclear social, think doing membership post.

00:01:19:025 - 00:01:22:111
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then when I'm wearing a white shirt.

00:01:23:000 - 00:01:38:028
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I'm going to be arguing social media. That's custom, social media that has your own flair, social media that has your own voice in your own face. And so, just like we've programed every single one of these other debate style episodes, that's how we are going to

00:01:38:028 - 00:01:40:080
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
do this with a minute introduction and

00:01:40:080 - 00:01:46:013
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
then two minutes of an argument, then a back and forth Q&A, followed by one minute of closing.

00:01:46:042 - 00:01:53:030
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And welcome to the podcast to argue social media myself. Nicholas.

00:01:53:040 - 00:02:09:105
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah. So minute on the clock. So I've been in youth ministry for 15.5 years. Started out small churches in Ohio. Always seen the value and need for social media, digital ministry. In fact, I read a book, or listen to a podcast about exiles in Babylon.

00:02:09:115 - 00:02:18:045
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It was a Barna book and talked about the value of YouTube and how the next generation is going to be asking some of the heaviest and most theologically based questions on YouTube.

00:02:18:055 - 00:02:40:084
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So to kind of get my gears turning around YouTube, I started a little like YouTube through my church podcast, moved to a church in Chicago the first day Covid hit. And while we were there, obviously we had to come up with a digital and an innovative and innovative digital solution. And while we were doing that, it really like sparked my love, my continued love for social media, YouTube, and just digital ministry.

00:02:40:084 - 00:02:54:060
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so kind of ever since then, I've seen the value of it. I've seen the power behind doing a good job on social media. And then then I moved to Texas. Which next guy can take it away?

00:02:54:069 - 00:03:13:053
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah. That's great. So I moved here to Texas in 2022. I came to be, one of my really good friends. His name is Darren. I came to be kind of like his right hand man and, learned a lot of stuff about digital and kind of poured into it and really, like, brought it to life here.

00:03:13:062 - 00:03:28:021
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
In where the in the current setting that I'm serving in, last summer. So about eight months ago, at this point, he stepped away to another role, at another church, and I took over and assumed his role, which is a lot more management, and it's a lot more meetings

00:03:28:021 - 00:03:34:114
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
and a lot more oversight of people. And so my schedule looks like this on screen here.

00:03:34:117 - 00:03:51:098
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This is a screenshot of my schedule. I actually sent it to him last week complaining. And I'm actually getting ready to hand social media over to a resident because I'm running out of time, no matter how well I'm mapping out and blocking my time. Social media is great, but there are other things that are also taking my attention.

00:03:51:098 - 00:03:56:060
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So, excited to be with you today.

00:03:56:070 - 00:04:22:029
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah. Okay, so two minutes on the clock. So, I would say our goal as youth pastors is not to be content creators, not to be social media managers. But our goal as youth pastors and pastors in general, working in the church, our goal is to be disciple makers, and we should be implementing and facilitating, a system and a program that helps move students more meaningfully and significantly towards Jesus.

00:04:22:029 - 00:04:26:038
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so I know and I believe that social media

00:04:26:053 - 00:05:00:036
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
obviously is still important, and I believe that it has a role within the life of the local church. But I also believe that we should be primarily focusing on making disciples. And my argument for why you should consider done for you. Pax is it just while it's important, while social media can be a mechanism for life change and for disseminating the hope and the message of the gospel, I also know that as my calendar gets more and more full, as my plate gets more and more stacked up, and as I have more and more of those proverbial plates spinning, so to speak, that social media

00:05:00:058 - 00:05:14:000
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
is one of the first things to kind of like fall off my radar and so, yeah, so I believe in social media, but I also believe in delegation. And so if you can delegate that either through a team or through a,

00:05:14:011 - 00:05:20:101
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
just downloading a pack of especially like if you're a member, you're already paying for it like it's included.

00:05:20:110 - 00:05:45:009
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You should go ahead and check something like that out because, while the while like, I believe that we're busy, I believe that social media is important. I also believe that our ultimate goal is to raise up leaders and to help point people towards Jesus. And so if social media is taking that away from me, I don't want to, become less effective as a disciple maker because of social media.

00:05:45:009 - 00:05:57:084
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so because of that, I would recommend that you grab something that's done for you, that's taken care of, and you don't even have to worry about it. And it frees up your time to be the best version. And pastor of you that you can be.

00:05:57:094 - 00:06:23:016
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah. So I would say two minutes on the clock. I would say my argument is that in social media, the goal is not to just get your announcements or your information pushed through. It's it's a very, very small part of it. In fact, the goal on social media is engagement, which my argument would be as youth pastors, as ministry leaders in churches, our goal should be engagement across the board.

00:06:23:038 - 00:06:47:118
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We would want people to engage not just with our church for the sake of engaging with our church. We would hope that they would engage with our church, and that's going to be helping to move and promote them towards and for life change. And so the same thing is true on social media. And just like every single time you're hanging out with a student at Starbucks, you're not only ever posting announcements in the same way that you're, or like you're hanging out at Starbucks.

00:06:47:118 - 00:07:03:107
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You're not only ever talking about spiritual, so if you're talking about life, you're talking about fun stuff, you're talking about interesting things. And you see, you know, the latest neighbor gets a stand up routine, like whatever that might be. And I think the same thing should be true on social media. And I think you should have a custom fingerprint of our own church.

00:07:03:107 - 00:07:26:012
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Right. And so because of that, I think that helps drive engagement and so people respond to people, people like some of our best performing posts on social media, our faces, not graphics that we cooked up in Canva. And so the more we can get faces, my face, my leaders faces, my senior pastor's face and other students faces, that's the goal on social media.

00:07:26:012 - 00:07:52:046
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so in the same way, like announcements are good, graphics are good, done for you. Stuff is good. But Dunphy can only take you so far because if it's done for you, it means it's also done for many. And if you're just posting something that someone else has already made, that can be done at any given church in any given context across America, only you have been called to be the youth pastor and the shepherd of your church and the students that God has entrusted to you.

00:07:52:057 - 00:07:59:032
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So lean into the customization of that and use it to spread the message of good news and hope of Jesus.

00:07:59:041 - 00:08:09:022
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah. Okay. So I have a question for you. Nick. White shirt. Nick, how much time do you spend on social media per week?

00:08:09:032 - 00:08:26:099
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah, so let's see. Good question. I used to spend a lot of time on social media when I was editing our teaching videos. Probably took me ten hours a week between that, and then our other social media content, like our short form content, we finally built up our budget in such a way to be able to pay an editor, which I get.

00:08:26:099 - 00:08:46:069
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
That's a luxury. Not everybody has that. I would also say, like, if you have the potential to just, like, film yourself in the back of the room with a camera. Cameras have come a long way even since I started at this church in Texas. And so you could probably get a decent camera, a decent lens, and a decent like, just, what am I looking for?

00:08:46:069 - 00:09:01:017
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
An adapter into your soundboard? You can probably get that for a thousand $2,000. And again, you might have to work your way up for it. You might find a donor for it. If there is some money for it. But you can put a camera in the back of the room and you can film your messages, and you can use those for clips and stuff like that.

00:09:01:017 - 00:09:14:094
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then I also come a long way. So to answer your question and spend a lot of time when I've done a lot of the work myself, but do things like opus clip link down below if you want to check that out. If you have some sort of long form version of your message without lower thirds is going to crop it out.

00:09:14:094 - 00:09:39:097
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Opus clip is an amazing solution that will give you clips and chunks of your teaching, and of your messages that you can sprinkle on all throughout social and listen. Maybe video is not even an option for you. Maybe just like record your sermons through soundboard and post to audio. Have an audio sermon like that's still a version of hybrid Ministry of Digital Ministry might not be the most effective just on social media, but there's even ways to do that where you have like the sound wave bar, right?

00:09:39:097 - 00:09:59:056
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And like you can do overlays and B-roll and, and you can do your slides and stuff like that as you clip up some of the things. So like, you don't have to be hamstrung by the equipment side of your, of your life. And then that being said, I built out a whole strategy. I owned it, but then as I've owned it, I've handed it off.

00:09:59:056 - 00:10:17:018
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So on the capturing and creation side, I have a whole team of students who are building that out every single Wednesday night. And then on the editing side, I have a whole team of students, and even some leaders and other staff members who are helping, do some of that. But I don't manage much of it anymore.

00:10:17:018 - 00:10:29:052
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So I would say in an honest assessment, I spend less than an hour per week and have a fully customizable social media, YouTube channel, Instagram, all those things.

00:10:29:062 - 00:10:33:003
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah. I mean, my question to you, black shirted Nick would be like,

00:10:33:003 - 00:10:45:034
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I get that you were all about done for you, but have you considered raising up volunteers to give you a hand on some of these things as you've, you know, gotten busier and lost some of your time that you used to have?

00:10:45:044 - 00:11:21:066
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah, actually, yes. I have raised up volunteers in in my space. And that's one of the reasons why, the done for youth stuff. I mean, I'm not so far down the done for you path. It's because of my own prep of raising up volunteers. So I have a couple of students, who I've raised up in who have taught how to run and do social media for themselves, and how they, can, come in at edit off of our computers, our machines, our software that we spend the money for that we've invested in.

00:11:21:075 - 00:11:43:079
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And they have my help, my troubleshooting ability. But if I didn't have them at this current juncture, I'm not sure that I would have as much time to devote towards, you know, five, five, days a week, two posts per day, ten, ten different pieces of content. Like, I don't know that I would have that amount of time to get something like that off the ground.

00:11:43:079 - 00:12:10:093
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So something that's a little more done for you, something that's just a little bit more turnkey. In my current role, with the amount of direct reports I have, with the amount of people that and meetings that I've found myself in. Had I not raised up those volunteers to continue to keep doing what I'm doing as I've stepped into this new leadership role and I'm not I'm not 100% sure how well I would be at launching a brand new hybrid in social media, like kind of ministry and campaign, like right now.

00:12:10:102 - 00:12:21:095
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah. So final minute on the clock. My final closing argument is honestly my own social media pack. I don't mean for this to be like self-promotion and like a plug, but the fact of the matter is this is that I

00:12:21:111 - 00:12:32:100
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
have a pack that has a whole done for youth section. In fact, I was just on social media not ten minutes ago, and one of the members from my cohort, I follow their youth ministry.

00:12:32:109 - 00:12:55:086
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I ran across a takes 60s to pray post. I ran across one that I had made and I had created myself. And so I saw another youth ministry. I saw another youth pastor use my content for their own students. And that's why I would recommend this, because sometimes you have the bandwidth, sometimes you have the margin, and sometimes you have the creative energy, but other times you simply don't.

00:12:55:086 - 00:13:09:101
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so you need something that's still good, that's still effective, and that's still going to push the mission of Jesus forward in your space, in your context, in your church. And you can do all that through social media and on your social channels.

00:13:09:111 - 00:13:30:062
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah, right. So my argument is that social media is best when it's custom. People respond best to faces. And you, if you're the youth pastor, you've been called to shepherd your people, which also includes putting your face on your Instagram, on your YouTube, on your TikTok, and, shameless plug my done for you and custom for you social media pack.

00:13:30:062 - 00:13:54:048
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I have four different seasons summer, fall, winter, spring, $17.99. Or you can become a Patreon member, which gives you access to our weekly bonus podcast. And then as a part of that $4 per month membership cost, the $17.99 social media pack will coach you through how to have a custom and hybrid social media ministry. It will give you scripts.

00:13:54:048 - 00:14:10:089
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It will tell you, it'll give you filming prompts. It will give you man on the street questions with the graphics and the overlays so that your social media can be custom, but it doesn't have to break the bank financially or from a time standpoint. Check it out. Link down below in the description.

00:14:10:099 - 00:14:33:044
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Well, hey, thanks everybody for hanging out on this episode. And I think, and I hope that you're able to tell that my genuine answer is that, yes, it should be custom social media and that yes, it should be done for you. Social media. And I have the perfect tech to blend those two things together. There is information and a link down below in the show notes.

00:14:33:044 - 00:14:53:059
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Or if you just have questions, bro, reach out to me. Shoot me a DM. If you found this episode helpful, interesting, or at least just something comical to laugh at because I was literally debating myself just with a different outfit, then hey, go ahead and give us a like or subscribe. That would be the greatest form of payment, especially if you choose not to go check out the social media pack.

00:14:53:068 - 00:14:57:009
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But until next time my friends. And as always, don't forget to stay hybrid.

Episode 192: Hybrid Ministry Masterclass- Tools, Systems, and Real Results for Youth Pastors

Nick Clason — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 05:00:00 -0500

This episode, quite literally, has it all!
Every strategy, every freebie, every way to implement hybrid into your ministry.

It's horrible for me, because I'm giving away anything and everything I've ever created!

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🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Act 1 - The Problem
02:40 Act 2 - The Analytics - How it REALLY works
07:44 Act 3 - The Hybrid Framework
16:48 Act 4 - The Execution Layer
17:13 Microphones & Cameras
23:35 Software Recommendations
26:39 Social Team Construction
28:11 Act 5 - The Vision Layer
30:36 Act 6 - I Can Help!

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TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:13:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
As a person on church ministry, you have a slew of responsibility. You need to be a shepherd. You need to be an administrator. You need to be an evangelist. You need to be a disciple maker. And sometimes you need

00:00:13:14 - 00:00:15:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
to be a social media strategist.

00:00:15:25 - 00:00:16:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Listen,

00:00:16:10 - 00:00:17:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
you know this.

00:00:17:07 - 00:00:20:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Not everyone can be good at everything.

00:00:20:05 - 00:00:21:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
just recently,

00:00:21:04 - 00:00:22:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
someone in the DYM

00:00:22:16 - 00:00:27:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Facebook group asked like social media gurus, where are you at? I want to start up ticking my engagement

00:00:27:27 - 00:00:30:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I probably see that question

00:00:30:03 - 00:00:31:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
once a month

00:00:31:00 - 00:00:33:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
just like you get curriculum to help you teach, just like you get

00:00:33:29 - 00:00:36:19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
calendar apps to help you stay organized, and you have

00:00:36:19 - 00:00:38:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
books to help you learn.

00:00:38:05 - 00:00:43:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
With so many different tools on the market, how do you know what you can actually trust? You know,

00:00:43:08 - 00:00:52:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I've been leading a youth ministry leader cohort, specifically down a deep dive topic of hybrid ministry, and at the beginning

00:00:52:29 - 00:01:04:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
of the cohort, it's an eight week experience at the beginning. I have people map out the next month of social media content, and every week when we circle back, we evaluate how did the last week go?

00:01:05:00 - 00:01:11:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And without fail, they say I had my plans or the plans laid out, but I didn't do it because

00:01:11:25 - 00:01:27:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
a meeting came up. Because this thing happened, because I got busy, because the weather canceled our services and I was focused and forced to do other things responsibility wise. You see, whatever the reason is why social media falls by the wayside,

00:01:27:11 - 00:01:28:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
it's not a priority.

00:01:28:08 - 00:01:39:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Leadership doesn't see the value of it. You're not creative enough. You need something to help. You need a strategy. And that's what this episode is. This is the mega episode. I've done you a favor,

00:01:39:21 - 00:01:43:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
in the next several sections of this video, I'm going to share with you

00:01:43:07 - 00:01:53:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
the analytics behind my hybrid ministry strategy and my seasonal social Media pack, which is now available and active for the spring season over on Patreon.

00:01:53:04 - 00:01:56:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So make sure that you go take a look at that. If there's something that you're interested in.

00:01:56:13 - 00:02:07:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then in act number three, we're going to share with you the hybrid ministry framework. And act number four, I'm going to share with you the execution layer. How do you actually pull this thing together?

00:02:07:18 - 00:02:22:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
What gear what software do you need. Act number five is going to be the vision layer. Where can this go if you really choose to double down on it. And then act number six, I'm just going to share with you different ways that I can help along the way. And here's the good news. I've actually shared all of this before.

00:02:22:11 - 00:02:44:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If you're new here, or if you don't want to go through all the various episodes I have, this is almost going to be like a clip show. I have done the hard work of combing through nearly 200 hybrid Ministry episodes to share with you each of these different sections. So we're going to dive in. Let's look first here at the analytics and what's going on behind the scenes.

00:02:44:13 - 00:03:00:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You know, when I released my winter season on Social Media pack, I did a vlog style video where I was at a conference that my my church was hosting. I was hosting it. I was like a stage host for the week, and I wanted to prove that I could post my pack in less than 16 minutes of total time.

00:03:00:29 - 00:03:22:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Over the course of the week, though, in my pack, I propose you post three times a week. I posted eight times during that week. Every single piece of content that I include in my seasonal social media pack. Spoiler I didn't meet the challenge, but I did learn something valuable and it's that my pack can actually stand up to some of the stressors of everyday life.

00:03:22:08 - 00:03:38:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
My pack was the schedule, and all I had to do was look at the schedule. It told me exactly what I was most post. I posted it and not less than 16 minutes, but however, I was able to do it in less than 20 minutes. And this right here is the analytic and the deep dive from that week of posting.

00:03:38:28 - 00:03:48:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Now I have all different seasons and I just released spring, which means now we're also able to offer a full year of custom and DIY seasonal social media.

00:03:48:29 - 00:03:59:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So if you want to look at the four season bundle pack for the entire year of social media, go check it out. But what I'm trying to do in my pack is I'm trying to make you and your church the hero.

00:03:59:02 - 00:04:19:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Not just a bunch of standard graphics that every church, any church can post, but graphics that. Yeah, we'll have some of that, but also videos with you and your people, and I'll train you and give you scripts and, and give you video and graphic overlays that you can put on top of videos that you record. Because 90% of the internet's traffic is short form, vertical based video.

00:04:19:22 - 00:04:37:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so I took that concept, the one that I sell to you and sell to all you pastors, church communications, people all around the world that I stand behind. And I put it to the test, and here were my results from the week. And and it's nothing crazy. We didn't go viral. We didn't get famous off of it.

00:04:37:01 - 00:04:54:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
In some cases. We had some really low views. In other cases we had some really high views. So I want to share with you the highest view from the week. I want to share with you the lowest view from the week. I want to share with you a comment from a post that happened during that week, as well as the one the post that got the most amount of likes.

00:04:54:27 - 00:05:14:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I'm going to do that across three different platforms of TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. So if you're watching here on YouTube right now, you'll see this graph up here on screen. But the video with the highest views on TikTok was only 235 on our verse Bible verse video 235 views on TikTok. Our lowest one was our transition style video.

00:05:14:27 - 00:05:34:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It only had 38 views over there on TikTok. A comment we got zero comments during the week on TikTok when I did this. And see, that's the that's the the truth. That's the hard and crass reality. Sometimes that's what happens. We also did get 37 likes on our first video. So that video did did do the best on TikTok.

00:05:34:19 - 00:05:54:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Now let's switch over to Instagram. I got 471 devotional views on our Devo video, the one that I, the script, I wrote the script, then I copied the script verbatim and I hadn't looked at it in like three months. So I was basically going in code, which is very similar to what you would also be doing if you were to grab my pack and implement it in your own context.

00:05:54:28 - 00:06:16:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We had, 243 views. I was the lowest on our verse post on Instagram. So interestingly, it was our lowest on Instagram was higher than our highest on TikTok. Comments on the Devo we had two different people that left a comment on our on my devotional thing, and I asked for some sort of, hey, leave a leave this emoji in the comments if you need this.

00:06:16:00 - 00:06:35:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And two people did that and then the highest likes was 17 on that same devotional video. And then over on YouTube, check this one out. We had 1081 views on the transition video. We had a comment, I'm sorry, we had 23, our lowest on the verse post on YouTube and then, on the Bible trivia post on YouTube.

00:06:35:05 - 00:06:47:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Someone said, I didn't know that, that I didn't know the answer to that last one. Not a chance. That was fun though. Good job. And then we had 28 likes on said Bible trivia. And here's just a couple of things I find interesting.

00:06:47:03 - 00:06:59:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The verse post did amazing on TikTok and it struggled on the other two, right? Each platform had a different, higher performer, the verse followed by the diva on Instagram, followed by the transition video on YouTube.

00:07:00:02 - 00:07:20:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Right. A couple of things. At one point I actually had to reedit and repost some of these because I had made mistakes. But somehow my posted man on the street video, I did it without even sound. The first time around, my Wi-Fi was lagging. It's slowed me down. And right when I was getting ready to hit record at one point, I had to run across the creek to grab my SD card.

00:07:20:06 - 00:07:40:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
See, even I, the creator of the seasonal social media pack, I ran into the same potential obstacles that you might, and my summary and all that is that that week was far from perfect. But what I did do is I showed up regularly, and when I got busy and I didn't have what I needed to do, I could look back at my calendar and my seasonal social media pack told me exactly what I should do.

00:07:40:14 - 00:07:41:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so that's the purpose

00:07:41:26 - 00:08:06:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
of this thing. It is a seasonal social media pack that's more than just static graphics. That helps you develop a team, a volunteer social media, team students, whatever to hand something off to. And it's for the less than the cost of a couple cups of coffee for the month. So now let's move into act three, and this is where we're going to share some best of clips from the Hybrid Ministry show.

00:08:06:09 - 00:08:09:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I'm going to share with you the Hybrid Ministry Framework.

00:08:09:21 - 00:08:39:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
There are kind of three core statistics. There's Gen Z, Gen Alpha. They use their mobile device more than they use any other device combined. Furthermore, 69% of students own a smartphone. But I get this the age of 12, 90%. According to Pew Research use YouTube. But there's a verse in Jeremiah chapter 29 Nov nine 2911. But right before that verse, Jeremiah is having a conversation with God.

00:08:39:04 - 00:09:08:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And here's what God says to Jeremiah. He says you should build homes, planned to stay, plant gardens, eat the foods that they produce, marry and have children, then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply. Do not dwindle away, but you gotta understand the context here, which we don't do for Jeremiah 2011 very often, is that the Israelites are stuck as captives in Babylon, and what God is telling Jeremiah to do is he's saying, stop complaining.

00:09:08:22 - 00:09:35:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Stop trying to find a way out. Stop trying to leave. Instead, invest in where you live and digital ministry is not going anywhere. You may not like it. You may not even think it's the most effective. But the majority of millennials, Gen Z, and we can assume Generation Alpha, say that a digital version of church is valuable to them and one that they would lean into, and it doesn't mean that their in-person attendance is going to go away.

00:09:35:13 - 00:09:54:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
That's a lot of the fears of us in church leadership is that if we offer a digital component, I'm just going to choose that instead of, coming to church in person, but far from it. We're also seeing in this generation, more than even older generations, that community is so much more important to them. So they don't want to forsake the in-person moments.

00:09:54:00 - 00:10:20:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so when we take the in-person moments and the best that it has to offer, when we take the digital things and the best it has to offer, and we find that sweet spot right in the middle, we find what I call hybrid ministry. A great example of it is honestly, Home Depot. And think about it like you throw on your new balances and you throw on your cargo shorts on on a Saturday morning, you got a project, and then you go on Home Depot and you don't really have like a agenda, right?

00:10:20:07 - 00:10:40:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You're just walking around and you're just kind of like you're taking in the smell of lumber and you're just you're just kind of exploring what the hallways and the aisles of Home Depot have to offer. Other times. And then, like, you don't have time, right? You go online, you make an order so that it's delivered to your doorstep because you don't have time to just live out your full dad mode experience.

00:10:40:07 - 00:11:11:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But my favorite honestly version to experience Home Depot is while I'm in the store on their app because their app. If you haven't seen it yet, their app shows you where every single thing in their entire store is located. And so that's what I think we should be doing as youth pastors. Finding a way to intersect where teenagers already admitted they're spending their time, not forsaking the good elements of gathering together and community and accountability and all those things, but also leaning into this hybrid sort of moment.

00:11:12:00 - 00:11:35:19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so what I want to do is I want to give you one of the easiest ways to kind of to kind of step foot into this hybrid space. And it's by up picking your social media engagement. Now, here's the thing. A lot of youth pastors, and if you've been following me along on this channel for a while, posts announcements on their feed, just assuming that social media is another announcement platform.

00:11:35:19 - 00:11:57:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But the reality is that that's not what social media is best made for it. But what it does mean, and what we should be doing, is that we should be intersecting and invading the lives of students on the places that they spend their time, including TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. Remember, 90% teenagers say that they use YouTube in the way that they're consuming it.

00:11:57:12 - 00:12:19:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
for you and for me and for all of us. Like, my, like, general strategy is simply, walking down a funnel of posting short form content, silly content, as well as spiritual content, and hopefully gathering an audience with that and then pushing them to, like a long form version of some more serious content, which is what we do in our youth ministry.

00:12:19:24 - 00:12:48:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We pre film our messages and we adapt them and make them specific for YouTube. You know, we do that versus like a live stream type of thing. As Carrie New study said. This said the challenge is the future is to diversify what you offer online and distinguish it from what you offer in person. So not only is that going to create true options, new love continues on to say, but it will deepen engagement as your in-person and online ministries lean towards what each does best.

00:12:48:13 - 00:13:05:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then, beyond. Just like your message content, beyond your weekly sermon, so to speak, that are also going to live online, whether that's live stream, which I would argue is not as good as a pre filmed version, but it's still better than than nothing. You can also lean into things like courses and those types of things.

00:13:06:01 - 00:13:19:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Exactly. Should you be posting? I'm glad you guys have three steps for everyone and their social media is is, three steps. Social media checklist. Step number one is make sure that your website is up to date.

00:13:19:18 - 00:13:51:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
When you take away social as an avenue for announcements, or when you reduce your amount of stage announcements. There still has to be a full bodied, one stop, robust shop for your church people to fall to. And that also makes what I'm going to recommend here on social, which is the second step here. The second step is you kind of want to become enamored with short reels, TikTok style videos, because when your website is good, you don't have to worry about the information.

00:13:51:27 - 00:14:24:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So now you can leave that behind and you can now move ahead towards the era that social is really made for and meant for. And according to video, 90% of the internet's traffic is found on short form vertical based video because every other platform then was trying to catch up and keep up with this brand new one called TikTok shorts, reels, Facebook has them, Instagram has, YouTube has them and even other like places like, Twitter.

00:14:24:11 - 00:14:50:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If you're even on there, it'll it'll be on a video, you'll be watching it again. It'll auto scroll to the next one. First of all, it's video based and it's short and it's quippy and it's fun. But secondly, like I said earlier, it's the discovery era. If you jump on Reels on Instagram, if you jump on your TikTok for you page more than I think 90% of the I believe that's the stat of the videos that you're served are from people that you've never actually even met.

00:14:50:22 - 00:15:17:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so that's good news for you and I. As churches and youth ministries, we can get on to other people's for you pages without buying their attention or without having them have to follow or subscribe or or know about our channel. The key is producing good content. And so step one website. Step two start focusing on good shorts, which is why I've created down below my hybrid strategy guide.

00:15:17:21 - 00:15:29:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It will not only lay out my plan and what I do in my student ministry, but it will also give you different ideas and types of content that you can use for your social media.

00:15:29:15 - 00:15:55:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Hey, real fast. Don't click away. Listen, a couple of months ago, I was running a conference at my church, and I decided that I wanted to see if, while I was in the throes of the busiest week on my calendar to date in the year of 2025, if my seasonal social media pack could have what it takes to actually carry me through and not make it more labor intensive for me to actually keep social media running, but to make it easier on me.

00:15:55:14 - 00:16:26:19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And here, here's what I found out. Imagine it's six minutes per week. Have your entire social media strategy done for you. I mean, think about it like three months of youth ministry content for just $0.23 a minute. Some weeks it takes me seven, other weeks it takes me five. But the point is, and especially at the end of this, as I was sitting in my youth ministry leader cohort, everyone said time management and scheduling was the issue with staying consistent on social.

00:16:26:20 - 00:16:43:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So my recommendation would be take my pack, let it be the the basics of what you do. And if you do get busy, if something else comes up, you have something to fall back. And then when you do have the creative energy to create something more custom and more elaborate, scrap one of mine and put one of your own in there.

00:16:43:22 - 00:16:47:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But mine will at least keep you moving in the right direction.

00:16:47:27 - 00:17:12:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So that's the big picture. That's the strategy. That's the philosophy. Now let's move in here to act four. This is how to do it. It's going to be gear guides and microphone guides and links. And this is going to get a little bit a little bit down in the weeds if you already know those things, softwares and gear and phones and what you need, I'll encourage you to skip past that over to act number five, which is where hybrid ministry can actually take you in the vision layer.

00:17:12:19 - 00:17:45:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If you take my seasonal summer social media pack, which is less than $20, and you download it, you'll realize that as I'm hoping to help youth pastors create custom content that it's going to require at some points in time, a microphone. And what I want to do in this video is I want to show you all of the different array of options that you can use all the way from like budget microphones to the most expensive Cadillac style microphones to these mid tier podcast, but really cool and vibey looking microphones that your students are going to love.

00:17:45:16 - 00:18:08:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Because in this episode, we're going to answer the question which mics you use for the content that you're creating in your youth ministry? Welcome, my friends, to the Hybrid Ministry Show. What's up everybody? Welcome to the Hybrid Ministry show. You and I haven't had a chance to meet yet. My name is Nick Klassen, and we're gonna explore microphones and they're really important because actually, right now, this exact audio is coming.

00:18:08:27 - 00:18:37:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Me talking directly to my camera on the other side of the room. You can see that so far, of all the audios you heard is the worst style of audio. And we're going to go through budget options as well as all the way up to the most expensive style of options. And you'll notice if you follow my hybrid ministry social media recommendations, that it's going to require you filming some of your own custom content, and that's going to require you to want to have a microphone, because this audio right here is just not doing it.

00:18:37:16 - 00:19:06:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So first we're going to look at budget audio. This is my budget audio recommendation. It's one of these Bluetooth style microphones. They are really cheap. They clip on. They are wireless which is nice. And they plug directly in to your phone. You can get these for less than $10. And at a minimum, what this does is the requirement for decent microphone audio is you just want to isolate the audio source away from the video source.

00:19:06:10 - 00:19:33:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Now this one records directly into the actual video files. So you you like your video and your audio will be immediately linked up, which is good news. But I would say this one here, we're going to call this like the student ministry volunteer microphones. So this one right here is actually one of my newest recommendations. It's the Rode Wireless go to not because I've been against it, but because it's just brand new.

00:19:33:24 - 00:19:59:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I just got it and so right now I'm actually talking direct into my cell phone camera. And right now I'm talking direct into my Sony ZV one camera, which that, camera is actually also linked down below in the link included in the description. I will call this one like the church intern of microphones, but it's a church intern that actually reads commentaries.

00:20:00:00 - 00:20:24:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This pro level microphone is the Sennheiser lavalier system. It is the senior pastor of microphones. It's buttoned up, it's expensive, it's intimidating, and it's very, very serious about what the job needs to be. It is wireless. So you see, I have a pack that I have right here in my pocket. And this wire that's just like clipped on.

00:20:24:12 - 00:20:48:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Then here through my shirt. And then I have a receiver over there on my focus. Right. So this one does require an audio interface and it's not recording directly onto any of the video. So you need to record this separately. You can use something like GarageBand or we use like Adobe Audition. But then you have to link this audio up with the audio from the camera.

00:20:48:07 - 00:21:13:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This microphone right here is the Sennheiser M-k 600. I would call this one if the last one was the senior pastor of microphones. This one is the executive pastor of microphones. It you know, it knows where to aim. And it's going to hit every single time. But you also better know what you're doing. So the pros and cons of this are you do not need pro as you don't need a wireless interface.

00:21:13:25 - 00:21:35:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I am plugged directly into my Sony camera. A can of course, is you will probably need some sort of adapter as this goes through an audio like one eighth cable inch headphone jack. And so you're going to need some sort of adapter, probably a microphone to usb-C or to lightning to go directly into your phone. The other con, of course, is it's wired okay.

00:21:35:18 - 00:21:53:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so like you're going to need, to have like an XLR cable. It's like what you would use for your worship, music or worship department. But you can see some of the pros of it. We'll use this a lot. We've used this almost exclusively, on our man on the Street videos. And so we've bought this, like, microphone flag with, like, our church branded logo in it.

00:21:53:22 - 00:22:14:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's also battery powered with just double A batteries. And so that's easier than trying to remember to plug in something that's like, usb-C or like rechargeable in that way. And here we are back where we started. And these right here are the, podcast style microphones. There's once again, a link down below in the show notes. You can check these out.

00:22:14:29 - 00:22:39:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
These microphones are kind of like the youth pastor of microphones. They are professional. They're paid. They're full time. Hopefully you're full time and they're cool looking or like try hard, cool looking. Maybe you're giving it too much. But the fact of the matter is, these much, much to the opposite of the shotgun microphones before I catch almost zero sound bleed.

00:22:39:02 - 00:22:58:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so for most of our like, we do drafts and we do seven questions here in this room for most of these videos, these microphones do a fantastic job of picking up the audio of the students that are talking directly into it. Not to mention it cuts out some of the exterior wall noise that we were talking about in the last section and in the last clip.

00:22:58:17 - 00:23:17:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The cons of these, however, are they once again, they're XLR, so you are going to need like a music microphone. And oftentimes we use two of these. So you're going to need at least a two channel audio interface. We use the focus rate. Scarlett. I et you can check that out once again. Link down below for that in the show notes.

00:23:17:16 - 00:23:34:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The con of that of course, is that is going to be an upgraded and an additional cost. And so you'll just have to figure out between this one or the Bluetooth wireless or the Rode Go Wireless two, or the condenser microphone or the lavalier microphone. What microphone is best for you?

00:23:35:00 - 00:23:54:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
All right. What about software? If everything that we're promoting you to do is short form, vertical based video, then, you know you're going to have to use and utilize some software. So this isn't a best of clip. This is actually brand new. And, as you're looking here on screen, you might be wondering where these came from.

00:23:54:21 - 00:24:28:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This is from my youth ministry leader cohort, that I'm leading deep dive. These are my, suggestions. So the top tier of suggestions are the Adobe Creative Suite, which includes Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, and DaVinci resolve. And those are listed in order of probably, power as well as price. I will put all three of these on the same plane, though, like, you can pretty much do everything in Final Cut or Da Vinci that you would also do in the Adobe Creative Cloud.

00:24:28:21 - 00:24:51:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so depending on where you're at budget wise, these are the ones that I would recommend. If you have an appetite to learn something that's a little bit more professional and a little bit more powerful, but moving on to the next tier are three different options. I have cap cut, I have in-app editors, and then I have just, the run of the mill iMovie or Windows Movie Maker.

00:24:51:06 - 00:25:09:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So cap cut, of course, there's a web app and there's also an app for your phone. You can use either of them. And there is a pro version, so you can upgrade a little bit to pay if I'm doing something just quick and short. My favorite editor is either the Instagram Reels, but my real favorite editor is the TikTok editor and then TikTok.

00:25:09:15 - 00:25:28:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
When you save it, it auto saves a copy of it to your camera roll unless you turn that off in the settings. And so if you're posting to, say, Instagram or YouTube, you go to TikTok first, you edit whatever you want to edit, put whatever captions on you want to put on, and then you post it. And then if you go to the other apps after that, it'll be sitting there in your camera roll.

00:25:29:01 - 00:25:47:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then, iMovie or Windows Movie Maker is probably the bottom of the barrel, but it's also probably free for whatever machine you have, whether you're a mac or windows user. Let me also say another thing. If you have some sort of long form version of your clip, a live stream, or you sit down ahead of time, film, direct camera, opus clip.

00:25:47:20 - 00:26:10:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If you look here, you'll see on my feed all of these ones that are circle, this is my student ministries feed. All of these ones that are circled were all edited by opus clip. I post three of them per week. And so in the seasonal social media pack I recommend a devotional clip. But if you have some sort of long form version of your message that you can upload into a service like opus clip, and if you just scan this QR code that you see here on screen, you can go check out Opus Clip.

00:26:10:20 - 00:26:25:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's free for a while, and then you have a certain number of credits, and when it runs out, then it's an upgrade for about 100 and something dollars per year. And, I've never run out of credits in opus clip and we even share it with another ministry in our church, and we still have enough credits for opus clip.

00:26:25:29 - 00:26:38:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So, that's something that really can help. If you have a long form version of something. If not, then I just recommend you doing a devotional, on your phone, editing it in something like Cap Cut or TikTok and then posting it everywhere.

00:26:38:16 - 00:26:56:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
man, on the street transition style videos, drafts, seven questions. Any given night you come into our youth ministry, we're doing one of those four things. Let me just tell you, like once we started walking around with the camera, especially for like man on the street or like transition style videos, the kids came out of the woodwork in their interest level for it.

00:26:56:23 - 00:27:21:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We have seven, I want to say different like serving teams for students. We have welcome team. We have cafe, we have tech team. We have social team, we have photography. We have worship. Maybe that's it. Oh, no. And then we have our table leaders. That's probably like our highest, spiritual bar of of role. The team that people want to be on the most is the social team.

00:27:21:10 - 00:27:44:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so we have, like, increased our engagement around student serving because the social team exists. But the real, in my opinion, this role right here, this next role, this is really like the role that has changed everything for me. It's the student editor. So I post ten pieces of content per week. And this is a genuine, real, true, authentic statement.

00:27:44:27 - 00:28:09:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I don't edit any of it. I'm going to include a checklist for you of roles, of things to do, of what to film all of that. That's over on my Patreon. Once again, that will come with a nominal fee because Patreon doesn't let me give it away for free. However, if you are a hybrid hero, you get that checklist that cost you $0 included in your $4 per month membership Hybrid Heroes tier.

00:28:09:22 - 00:28:30:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
All right. Now we're going to jump into the vision layer. So you start kind of dialing in social media. Where can this go. Maybe it's pre-recording your messages and creating a library of content on YouTube. Maybe it's creating YouTube playlist courses, maybe it's a weekly podcast and you're using things like Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube. What could this take you?

00:28:30:23 - 00:28:38:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
What vision do you have for some of this? Let's dive in and check out some of this vision piece. Content.

00:28:38:07 - 00:29:14:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
From the most conservative parents in your church who would never even imagine letting their kids enter the World Wide Web to all the way to the least restrictive parents who gave their kids a phone and let them have wild access to the internet. YouTube is a great strategy and a great platform for students and school ministry. But if you're anything like me and you work at a church, you look around your youth and you compare it to the auditorium or the main church home that the rest of us or the rest of your, you know, big church is using where your pastor's preaching on Sunday morning and you probably look and think, man, I don't

00:29:14:02 - 00:29:55:19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
have the gear to capture my services and post them on YouTube. And the answer to that is probably unequivocally, 100% accurate. You'll plan your curriculum and then you'll write out your teaching, and then you'll sit down and you'll deliver the message direct to camera, all because you told your time what was going to happen to it. And I'm not saying that you shouldn't counsel students and meet with the senior pastor and plan for your Wednesday night, but if pre filming your messages, if getting the message of Jesus and the message of hope out on the internet, on YouTube is important to you, then you need to determine when you're going to place that, that

00:29:55:19 - 00:30:20:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
thing on your calendar to do. Does teaching is it required in mandated to be in person? So anything that you might be tempted to turn into a class or a meeting or a workshop or a meet up or an after church, like pizza with the pastor sort of thing. Any one of those that isn't like, relationally charged, I believe.

00:30:20:13 - 00:30:34:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And even if they are relationally church, we can pivot and reposition the way that we're doing it so that it can be included in a YouTube playlist. However, playlists are basically like free courses on YouTube's platform.

00:30:35:01 - 00:30:55:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Listen, are you overwhelmed yet? Because it can be overwhelming. It's deep. And just like you have to be, organizational person and administrator, an executive pastor, a shepherd. Now, you're also being asked to be a social media manager. And that's the thing. That's why I have four different tiers of ways that I can help you. Number one, just grab my free e-book.

00:30:55:05 - 00:31:21:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You can also check out the seasonal social media pack, for the the three months. Or you can do for the whole year or coaching where I help walk you through it and how to implement some of these things. Or you can just reach out to me directly for coaching and communications done for you. But without any further ado, let's check out the last little bit here of the final, what this could look like and where this could take you in your church and in your ministry.

00:31:21:19 - 00:31:40:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Can grab my free e-book, but if you get in there and you're like, I don't know what's best for us, and we'll let you know about some custom coaching that I have to offer. My custom coaching is four sessions long. $50 per session will be $200 out of your overall budget, which is absolutely pennies in the in the drop in the bucket in an overall church size budget.

00:31:41:00 - 00:32:02:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But if you know, even that is too much, reach out. We can make something work. But the reason that custom coaching is important is because every context is different. I can tell you what I'm doing here in DFW, Dallas-Fort worth area, to reach, in my context, Gen Z or young, you know, basically almost done with Gen Z to Gen Alpha.

00:32:02:07 - 00:32:29:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But and that might be helpful because if you're managing church social media for an overall church, like, well, we're doing is very going to be very cutting edge for, you know, like older Gen Z and even like millennials. But every church and every context and every geographical area is a little bit different. I was recently, coaching another guy and, my typical like strategy, I changed it and tweaked it a little bit for him because he was doing things just a little bit differently.

00:32:29:04 - 00:32:46:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
His context was a little bit different, and his role was a little bit unique compared to what I typically would tell people to do. And so even I was, you know, thinking through and adjusting my model. And so it's important because everyone in every place is different. And then the final piece is this is like, as I say, all of this.

00:32:46:12 - 00:33:01:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And there's, you know, maybe a minute ago you gave me that sub because you were like, dude, there's just too much to do. And even with some custom coaching, there's still going to be a lot on your plate. You're 100% right. There is are still a lot of work to do, which is what I want to offer to, to some of you.

00:33:01:22 - 00:33:25:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Might be worth it. Budget wise, communications done for you. It's a service that I offer, and I will run your website. Or I will do graphics and video, or I will run your YouTube and social media. Each of those different buckets and categories is a different price point. Or you can bundle them all together for a different price point link down below to inquire about that.

00:33:25:09 - 00:33:45:19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But let me just tell you that it is a 10th of the cost of a full time staff person. If you were to hire me and contract me to do communications for you and for your church and for your ministry, because there's so much on your plate and you just you, you want it, but you don't have the time or bandwidth or desire maybe even to learn it.

00:33:45:19 - 00:34:01:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I understand that. And at some point it's just worth it, you know, to just get it off of your plate. And if that you're in that zone and you don't want the coaching, you don't want to learn via the e-book, then great. Then check out what I have to offer communications for you. I will do things like inspect your website.

00:34:01:10 - 00:34:41:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I will optimize your search engine optimization. I will make your website as visitor friendly as possible. If you want to go in the graphics route, I can do graphic design for you. I can do series and events and pre screen and print graphics and all those types of things. Get those pesky jobs off of your plate. And if you want to optimize your church social media, live stream or YouTube prefilled messages, we can, do thumbnails, we can title the video, we can optimize the tags for search engine optimization, create chapters so that people can jump around in your videos, create playlists and online courses, and also create post shorts for your social media.

00:34:41:27 - 00:35:02:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Whatever works best and whatever you want done for you. All of it is linked down below in the description or in the show notes. I'd love to have you check those things out, but again, I appreciate you being here. And listen. It is the future of the church is online. It's not only online, but are you. A wide portion of it is.

00:35:02:22 - 00:35:26:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And the fact is, the more capacity and bandwidth that you have to take it there, the more effective I believe you will be to maximize your reach and your influence to continue to pursue reaching people for Jesus, continue to pursue the call and the assignment in which God has placed you, particularly right now in this season. And don't forget, and as always, stay hybrid.

Episode 175: The Calendar that Rules Them All! [Most Skip Step 1!]

Nick Clason — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -0600

Struggling with youth ministry planning, church communications, or ministry calendars? In this episode of the Hybrid Ministry Podcast, learn the 5 levels to create the ultimate Youth Ministry Calendar that rules them all! Most skip Level 1—but stick around for the one strategy that fixes all your communication issues and grabs parents’ attention with tips, visuals, and free downloadable designs.

FREE CALENDAR TEMPLATE
https://www.patreon.com/posts/winter-spring-141564188?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

🍂 FALL SOCIAL MEDIA PACK
https://www.patreon.com/posts/fall-seasonal-137477671?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

🦸 HYBRID HEROES GET THE PACK FOR FREE!
https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry

SHOW NOTES
Shownotes & Transcripts
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/175

Custom Curated Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaK80OxdNPbfrvTH_6cML8VB

Nucleus
https://www.nucleus.church

//BEST DYM RESOURCES
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym

//OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361

//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit

--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 At a Glance Calendars
00:44 Level 1 - Most Miss!
02:51 Level 2 - FREE Download
05:27 Level 3
06:58 Level 4 - An All Time Idea!
08:10 Level 5 - THIS RULES THEM ALL

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:07 - 00:00:24:17
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:34:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Have you been doing your planning and creation of your youth ministry calendars all wrong this whole time? Well, in today's episode, I'm going to share with you the five levels to create a solid youth ministry calendar, the one that will rule them all. While most don't make it past level one, you should stick around to the end of the video and see the whole thing because I reveal at the end the one trick that I've started adding to all of my calendars that it solves the communication problem once and for all.

00:00:34:16 - 00:01:06:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Oh, and plus there's a free calendar link down below in the YouTube video or the podcast description. Welcome everyone to the Hybrid Ministry show. Well, hey everybody, welcome to the Hybrid Ministry Show. I am your host, Nicolas, and excited to be with you. As we're talking through the five levels of a youth ministry calendar creation. And the reason we're doing this because we're actually, and we actually are and have been in a playlist where we've been discussing different questions that I have come across on different youth pastor Facebook groups.

00:01:06:25 - 00:01:30:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And today, this one, I have, a question that says, hey everyone, I'm looking for examples of an at a glance calendar that highlight your major annual events. Pictures, please. You don't need to include spontaneous or smaller events, just the main ones that plan each year. And so we're going to be looking at what I have been passing out historically, and how we've tried to not only solve the communication problem, but it also helps with our, our visitors and all that sort of thing.

00:01:30:17 - 00:01:51:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So actually, there's a carefully curated playlist with all of those elements, calendar discussions and a welcome box that we have and communication issues linked right here. Tap the video. Go ahead and check it out on YouTube. But step number one is you need to have and this is the one that most skipped. But you need to have a reputable website okay.

00:01:51:28 - 00:02:17:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Because if you want a quote as this question says an at a glance calendar, then you need to have a website that is actually up to date that when people don't have the information that they need from your calendar, they know where they can go and what they should do. In fact, everyone in our student ministry knows and understands that like the calendar doesn't exist with this this piece of literature that they're bringing home.

00:02:17:08 - 00:02:43:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This is, again, as the question as this is high level, this is simply highlights. This isn't every single thing. I've seen calendars designed with every single thing, the entire calendar for the year. But like that, that is not what we pass out. And I'm going to share multiple different reasons why. But one of the reasons is because our website handles a lot of the rest of the stuff that is going to be needed in order to communicate that.

00:02:43:05 - 00:03:04:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So you need to make sure that you have a website that's actually like navigate. Well, that's decent. It's a decent guest experience and it's up to date. The second thing is you want something that's designed well. If you look at the one here on screen, this is one that we, are giving away. Link down below. The templated, the blank version.

00:03:05:01 - 00:03:29:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This is within our church's approved brand color palette and guides. So like, these are the student ministry colors within our church's color palette. So that's the first step of it. The second thing is like when I'm designing it, I typically choose a font or two that are like our fonts for the year. And then I'm just gonna be honest, like, icons are fun, but like, emojis are great.

00:03:29:13 - 00:03:50:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I try to just like link an emoji to some of the different events that we have. And that does a great job for it. The other thing is, like you see off to the side, here's like I also try to create some sort of icon that goes with like this season. So for fall we've done like coffee cups or we've done football helmets for the summer, we've done suns.

00:03:50:09 - 00:04:11:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And we, you know, in the spring we've done flowers. And so it gets tricky, especially if you're trying to do different ones and you're like doing them year over year. But you'll see the one linked right here. And you can go ahead and get the templated version link down below in the description. But you want your design to be something that, like, feels a little bit familiar but doesn't feel identical because you don't want them to think I've already got this.

00:04:11:18 - 00:04:28:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like they need to understand, like, no, this is a new one. Hey, quick break. Let me ask you a question. Are you still waking up every day? Is youth pastor scrambling to figure out what you need to post on your social media? Blurry dodgeball. Pick a video that your leader sent you that's a little bit pixelated, because iPhone still hasn't updated fully to RCS yet.

00:04:28:15 - 00:04:50:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You see, you don't need that kind of stress this fall. That's why I created these the fall seasonal social media pack for youth pastors. It is three months worth of done for you content done for you, paired with some customization so that you and your leaders and your students are the faces and the personalities on your student ministry Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shorts feed.

00:04:50:29 - 00:05:10:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So here's the thing. You can grab my pack right now over on Patreon. And did you know that monthly hybrid here? A Patreon members who only pay $4 per month and get a bonus podcast? They get this pack completely for free. So if you do the math for three months worth of social media content, it's only $12 where the pack is 1799.

00:05:10:25 - 00:05:37:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Either way, it is a steal for you and it will take away the stress of posting. And you can grab that pack right now and start becoming a master at social media and hybrid ministry. In your youth ministry context, rooting for you as you are crushing it this fall in your student ministry. And another major thing that you're going to want to do here, which is level three, is you only want to include events that you, particularly and specifically choose.

00:05:37:27 - 00:06:00:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And want to highlight. You don't want to put every single thing on your calendar. No, no, you want things that you only want at a high level. And so the way to make it visually appealing, in my opinion, and in my book, and to make it small and concise, is to not overwhelm it with information, but to only make it things that are noteworthy for families to know.

00:06:00:21 - 00:06:23:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
For example, we a lot of times say we meet every single Sunday. We meet every single Wednesday. However, these are ones you want to know about, and these are also ones that you want to know that we're not meeting because we meet every single week. But these in particular take note. We are not meeting. Additionally, and especially as it pertains to our spring calendar, we will post things about our, about our like winter weekend.

00:06:23:26 - 00:06:44:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And we'll also post, say, the dates for our summer camp communications already gone out for that. By the time this calendar gets in the hands of our students mid-year and like December. But this one is important that it just, you know, it gets on there because it's actually going to happen during this cycle, which I should say, for context, we produce three calendars per year.

00:06:44:09 - 00:07:05:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We produce a fall one, we produce a spring one, and then we also produce a summer one. And so in light of that, we're pumping out calendars three different times per year to get into the hands of students. The fourth level, and this I think, is, one of them, the most impressive, like, decisions that I ever stumbled into.

00:07:05:20 - 00:07:24:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I honestly can't even tell you how I stumbled into it. And I would say that this is the key. However, level five, is a new one that we've recently unlocked, and I think it's even better. But number four is we make this design and then we print this using like sticker mule. We print this on a magnet.

00:07:24:25 - 00:07:43:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Here's the psychology. Here's my thought behind it. Right. Everyone passes out a calendar for the year. There's the sports calendar. There's the academic calendar. And in a lot of cases, there's the youth group calendar. But what I want and maybe this is just my competitiveness, but like I want my calendar to be the thing holding on other calendars.

00:07:43:07 - 00:08:05:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Right. Like if you got your sports calendar, I want the youth calendar to be the thing that is keeping the sports calendar affixed to the fridge. That puts us on top of it. And they're probably going to choose sports over student ministry. But I just like to think in my own head, like, think about all of these calendars that are on magnets, that are on people's fridges, that are at the top of line, top of sight.

00:08:05:03 - 00:08:33:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And hopefully they're seeing, and remembering and keeping us again, top of mind. The fifth and final level, which I think is like the ultimate is, you'll see here. And you've probably noticed that we actually and this is helpful because of our website, we build our website and our calendar on our website, on the provider of, of nucleus, and on nucleus, what you can do is you can link in a dot ICS, which is an iCal calendar extension.

00:08:33:21 - 00:08:48:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So it's all you put in like your phone. But it's also like a shareable option out of like even a Google calendar. So we create just like a Google Calendar, we keep the Google Calendar up to date. That auto populates to our website, right? Which is like again, and I said, like, you want to make sure that your, your website is up to date.

00:08:48:27 - 00:09:09:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And if people land on your website, that's information is not on your your big calendar, your highlight calendar, your magnet calendar that they do end up on your website, they're able to obtain the information that they need and that they're looking for. But then we've created a QR code where they can simply subscribe to the calendar in their phones.

00:09:09:07 - 00:09:32:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so this is, in my opinion, the penultimate, because this makes these, at a glance calendars great, but not the most crucial thing. I think a lot of youth pastors treat this calendars the most crucial thing. But what happens when students don't have access to it? What happens when they lose it? What happens when you give it to them and they accidentally set it down before they get it into the hands of their parents?

00:09:32:18 - 00:09:56:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If a parent can subscribe to our calendar, then they will never miss an event. They'll never miss an update. It will be populated onto the very device and onto the very app that they use to manage and control their entire life. Their calendar app. And what a better place than for your youth ministry and your church calendar to be on parents phones and on students phones.

00:09:56:22 - 00:10:18:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so put a QR code, put some sort of link where they can go and they can subscribe to the events. And so all of the events are exactly where they're supposed to be and where you ultimately want them to be at the end of the day, remember, the goal of this is communication so that people know what's going on and that they then also hopefully choose to attend your church and your event in your youth group.

00:10:18:04 - 00:10:39:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The the goal and this is not a beautiful calendar. Hopefully we can help you create one. And once again link down below free in the in the podcast or YouTube description. But the goal is communication at its core. And so that fifth and final layer adding adding a QR code so that people and parents can, subscribe to your church and your youth ministry calendar.

00:10:40:01 - 00:10:54:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Such a game changer. Well, hey everyone, the next episode is linked right here on the screen as well as the subscribe button. If you found this episode helpful, a payment for this free calendar would be amazing. A like a subscribe and share it with a friend. But until next time. And as always, don't forget. Stay hybrid.

🚨BIG ANNOUNCEMENT🚨 - The Future of Hybrid Ministry!

Nick Clason — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 15:00:00 -0500

Hop into this EMERGENCY POD! Big News on the horizon!

I've got a special guest here, my former boss, and more importantly, friend, Darren Sutton, to explain all there is about the future of the Hybrid Ministry Show! And what this Deep-Dive Cohort is all about.

Deep-dive cohort link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfvUGUy6e3NDPK_DQNsRettn2mhT2Pedyn8ccl8WSlSTGvAwA/viewform

Episode 163: Event Evaluation that WORKS! How to Actually Improve Your Youth Ministry

Nick Clason — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -0500

In this episode of the Hybrid Ministry Show, we’re unpacking a proven event evaluation strategy for youth ministry that will help you actually improve your events instead of just surviving them. Learn how to run a productive post-event debrief using a 3-question framework that works for digital and in-person debrief meetings alike. Plus, get access to a sample evaluation form, hear a big announcement, and upgrade your fall youth ministry strategy with intentional feedback tools.

🍩 "FREE World's Greatest Donut Event Guide"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/worlds-greatest-donut
DYM: https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/world%27s-greatest-donut/games/food-8745.html

SHOW NOTES
Shownotes & Transcripts
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/163

☀️ SUMMER SOCIAL MEDIA PACK
https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry/shop/summer-seasonal-social-media-1540452?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=productshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

*🦸 HYBRID HEROS GET THE PACK FOR FREE! *
https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry

✅ CHURCH COMMS DONE FOR YOU
Hire me to run your church website, social media or communications!
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/comms

📊 [FREE] HYBRID STRATEGY GUIDE
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book

📋 "PICK NICK'S BRAIN" Coaching Call
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/coaching

//BEST DYM RESOURCES
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym

//OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361

//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit

--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Post Event Debriefs
00:25 Your Complete Fall Strategy Session
01:33 Proven Debrief Strategy
04:02 This Strategy was GENIUS!!
07:22 Your Fall Social Media Strategy is HERE!

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:06:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Post-event debriefs can feel like a roast session if we're not careful. That's why I recommend this

00:00:06:12 - 00:00:19:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
proven three part strategy for evaluating and making sure that your events not only get the proper evaluation that they deserve, but are even better on into the future

00:00:19:29 - 00:00:26:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
for your next year's event. Welcome, my friends, to the Hybrid Minister show.

00:00:26:00 - 00:00:29:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Well, hey everybody, welcome to the Hybrid Minister Show.

00:00:29:07 - 00:00:57:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I am your host, Nicolas. And in this episode, episode 163. If you want to head to the show notes with transcripts. Hybrid Ministry dot xyzzy slash 163. That would be incredible. And a subscribe while you there would also just do us wonders. But if you have been following along here on YouTube, we are in a playlist for your complete fall like strategy guide and strategy session for, not only your upcoming fall outreach event.

00:00:57:12 - 00:01:22:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
How we run outreach events. And it's all kind of been centered around like some principles for like, fall outreach and fall launches. But if you're looking for one, and one of my favorite kind of strategies is a, month long, ongoing, like, bracket style event, and I'm giving one away or I'm giving away an event guide, to one of my products over on download this ministry called the World's Greatest Donut Bracket Event.

00:01:23:01 - 00:01:42:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We've been walking through what those nights look like, how to include and incorporate free time, how to welcome your new guests. But now that all the dust has settled, now that all of the donut madness is over, you're ready to evaluate your event. So whether you're evaluating this particular event or just any of your fall events, this is my proven three part strategy and framework.

00:01:42:05 - 00:02:06:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I mean, I'm just going to be honest, like you've maybe heard this before. It's not unique or original to me. I've I've used it in a couple of last churches that I've worked in. But there's a few kind of like tweaks and adaptations to it. And so you might have heard this, but the first, you know, the first question worth asking in an event evaluation debrief is what went right, like, let's celebrate the wins straight out of the gate.

00:02:06:12 - 00:02:26:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like, what were the wins? What were the good things? And kind of go that route. The next question that I like to do and, you know, one of the church that I worked at, we call these questions the for hopefuls, but I like to combine these next two. And so that's why it's only three, three questions because I think these two, are cousins of one another.

00:02:26:05 - 00:02:46:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Right. And so, I like this one of, like the broken what was broken slash confusing. So, broken and confusing can kind of get, like I said, close to one another when you're kind of passing them out, you're like, oh, is this one broken? I'm not sure if that thing, that QR code was broken or if it was just confusing.

00:02:46:15 - 00:03:04:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Right. And and maybe the Q QR code was actually broken, or maybe students just don't know what they're doing, and it made it confusing. And that's kind of how I found that question to kind of land. And so just sticking those two together really like will help you in this question right here. Here's the thing I want to encourage you, don't make this personal.

00:03:04:09 - 00:03:35:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Don't take these things personal, but really like lean into these right here because this is how and this is where, and this is when and how and why you can make this event even better next year when you pull this thing together. Right. Like, this event becomes so much better when you take care of the broken and the confusing parts and you can really turn around, you can optimize, your next event or your next year's event or, some elements of this event that you're going to bring to, like the next Wednesday night, whatever the case might be like, but this is your chance to optimize it.

00:03:35:01 - 00:03:53:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Perfect. It really kind of like hone it in. And then finally, this last question, what was missing? And so it could be like, you know, while we were in the middle of the event, I thought it would have been great if we had this. We didn't think of it ahead of time. But let's next year, let's let's kind of plan to make this happen now a couple different ways that you can handle debriefs.

00:03:53:11 - 00:04:11:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I think probably the most common is just like an in person. Right. Like you get together, you talk about it with your team and you, you know, take notes and you go off to the next one. And for major events like big events like this ones you spend maybe a lot of budget money on, I would recommend doing some sort of like in-person debrief.

00:04:11:00 - 00:04:30:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
However, if you're debriefing every single event, you're never not debriefing because let's just be honest, like, if you meet once a week in youth ministry, there's always one time a week we got to get together and get a debrief. And then if you're meeting twice a week, say Wednesday night and Sunday morning, you're also getting together another time to kind of look back at Sunday morning.

00:04:30:28 - 00:04:54:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And what if you're meeting Sunday night then now you're meeting three different times for three different evaluations. And so it can become a lot and it can become a lot of meetings. And sometimes it's just like, man, we just got work to do. Right. And so, one of the things that my boss, has instituted is we use base camp, and he instituted this idea, and he just cause, our debriefs sometimes, we keep them all digital.

00:04:54:21 - 00:05:19:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So it's a digital debrief. We go into base camp, into the the message board there, and he'll ask three different questions. Sometimes he'll ask, right, right. Wrong, broken, confused. Like all that. But other times he'll throw in, like a curveball or, you know, like, and I think like this question, for example, is a good example of like, missing, you know, but he'll be like, what's one thing that we could have done to really take this event over the top?

00:05:19:19 - 00:05:35:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so it just get your brain thinking in a little bit of a different category, though, it is probably like an answer to the missing question. But it's framed really well. That makes you like, think in a different kind of way, you know what I'm saying? So but what we'll do then is everyone on the team has to complete that digital debrief comment done when they're done.

00:05:35:22 - 00:05:51:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then, he'll take those and he'll, he'll archive the, the plan. So it's out of our, like, base camp. But then next year, as we're getting ready to pull that back together, he'll, he'll go grab those archive notes. Because who in the world can remember what we did a year ago, let alone a month ago?

00:05:51:17 - 00:06:16:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
All right, take those archive notes and add them to the upcoming plan. So then, when the upcoming plan is coming, we look back and say, what did we say last year? And like a great example of this is like at summer camp, people said like last, like not the most recent summer camp we did, but the one from the summer last summer, people said something small like, hey, we should have a lost and found, or we should have more trash cans.

00:06:16:16 - 00:06:33:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so, you know, a week or two before we went, really? Hey, let's let's look back at that. Those debrief notes were like, oh, yeah, that's right. The lost and found in the trash cans. We pull those together quick. There are small things we were going to completely forget to do them, because we were so focused on all the other kind of like things and elements of camp.

00:06:33:14 - 00:06:51:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But we looked back at our debrief notes and those two little small things like, really help. Like I said, kind of like May made the difference, right? And so however you choose to do it, one of the words that my boss always kind of used was, we need a place to memorialize these thoughts, right? So like we say them, write them down for us.

00:06:51:26 - 00:07:21:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's base camp. You can use whatever kind of project management tool or software that you want to do and go ahead and take that to the races, but you should use these right? Broken slash confusing and missing. Use them in your next event evaluation. And here's the thing. If you go ahead and download my donate, event guide, come back to this episode or check this episode out right after your event is over so that you can really, truly lean in to, these questions and make your event as good as it can be, on and off into the future.

00:07:21:06 - 00:07:38:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Now, here's the thing. All of this has been ramping up. This is a this has been focused on one night, right? One night of like a big event, one night of like bring your friends. And you know, we talked about in the first episode, but the the spiritual CPR strategy. So cultivate and then plant and then reap. That's a cultivate event.

00:07:38:22 - 00:08:06:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
That's a cultivate night. How do you then carry on that momentum on into the next coming weeks? One of the elements, one of the small slivers component, but one that I really think has been super huge in our student ministry around, reaching, frankly, reaching more students, and reaching more lost students in an effort to be, both like planting seeds of like, spirituality as well as just like having fun is, is through using, the means of social media.

00:08:06:18 - 00:08:26:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so obviously, here I am. It's a hybrid ministry podcast. You probably saw that one coming, but that's been a hugely beneficial and hugely big piece in our overall strategy. And it's become one of our primary evangelism mechanisms. And next week I am dropping the fall seasonal social media pack. Now here's how this is going to work next Thursday.

00:08:26:08 - 00:08:47:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If you're subscribed, you're going to get it as soon as it drops. It's over on my Patreon. So is Patreon.com slash hybrid ministry. And over there there is a tier of podcast, a bonus weekly podcast where I'm just detailing an outline, all of my events, and all of our Wednesday nights, our programing, what's going well, what we're doing on social media, moves are making changes that we got going on.

00:08:47:29 - 00:09:03:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Here's the thing. This week at time of of filming that one, this episode drops. So at time of filming, my boss actually just submitted his resignation. So I'm actually stepping into a new role and I'm stepping into a new seat. And so I'm going to have the opportunity to share some of that with you. And I'm really excited.

00:09:03:13 - 00:09:34:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But that podcast that patrons hear is $4 per month. Now, here's the thing. The seasonal social media pack is like 1799, and it is meant to last for three months. So if you do the math, you actually come out ahead on the, on the tier. And so what I would recommend right now, if you're listening to this week leading into launch, go over to Patreon, give me the $4 per month, getting in on that tier, and then you will get everything in the store, not just this upcoming seasonal pack, but you can grab the summer pack.

00:09:34:13 - 00:10:02:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then, on Thursday, you can grab the fall pack, and there's actually a free week trial there, for you to check it out. So click the link down below. Become what we call a hybrid hero at that $4 per month tier. So excited to do that. And we're going to be dropping not only that pack next week and kind of walking through what that is, but then we're also going to start looking at how can you build and create a social media team within the the gathering in your in your context as is, that's fully and completely run by teenagers?

00:10:02:02 - 00:10:19:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I'm going to walk you how we did it and how you can do it in your youth ministry to reach students, but also create momentum for your students that are attending your church in person as well. So once again, thank you guys so much for being here. I hope you found this episode helpful. If you did like it, subscribe, share with the friend.

00:10:19:10 - 00:10:23:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But until next time and as always, don't forget to stay hybrid.

Episode 153: What I Posted This Week Using My Summer Content Pack

Nick Clason — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 05:00:00 -0500

I didn’t make anything new this week. I literally just hit post. Let me show you exactly what I shared using my Summer Content Pack—and how it performed.
Plus two bonus pieces of content that were the true all-stars at the end of this video!

*🦸 HYBRID HEROS GET IT FOR FREE! *
https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry

SHOW NOTES
Shownotes & Transcripts
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/153

✅ CHURCH COMMS DONE FOR YOU
Hire me to run your church website, social media or communications!
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/comms

📊 [FREE] HYBRID STRATEGY GUIDE
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book

📋 "PICK NICK'S BRAIN" Coaching Call
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/coaching

BEST DYM RESOURCES
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym

OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361

//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit

--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 I didn't make anything new this week!
00:29 Post #1
01:13 Post #2
02:18 Post #3
03:05 When a post doesn't perform…
04:34 Easy Summer Social Media Strategy
06:06 Post #4
07:16 Bonus Post: 7 Questions
07:55 Bonus Post #2: Drafts
08:37 The Power of Variety

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:02:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I didn't make anything new this week.

00:00:02:10 - 00:00:06:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I downloaded, I posted, or I used the scripts included.

00:00:06:29 - 00:00:15:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I'm going to show you exactly what I use out of my summer social Media content pack, as well as let you know how it performed,

00:00:15:02 - 00:00:17:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
plus two bonus

00:00:17:08 - 00:00:23:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
pieces of content that are also included in the pack. And I'm gonna let you know how those perform as well.

00:00:23:08 - 00:00:28:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
They were really the all stars of the week. Welcome, my friends, to the Hybrid Ministry show.

00:00:28:17 - 00:00:44:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
All right, so first up, we have the what to do if archetype. This is included in the done for you section of the Summer social media pack. And this particular post if you're watching here on screen, which is why you should definitely be subscribe to our YouTube channel.

00:00:44:11 - 00:01:03:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So you can see some of this stuff is because, this one says what to do if you're feeling anxious. We had a lot of great engagement on this, including some shares. One of our leaders shared the whole carousel to her Instagram story. Why? Because it's relevant to what people are going through. And so here's what's so cool on Instagram, we had

00:01:03:15 - 00:01:08:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
483 people view the post, 13 likes, five shares.

00:01:08:13 - 00:01:09:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then over on

00:01:09:08 - 00:01:13:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
TikTok we had 151 views with 12 likes.

00:01:13:12 - 00:01:29:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The second post type that you're going to see is the Devo style clip. Now this one is included in the custom for use section, where I've included scripts and graphics and templates, and depending on what that type of post is. But this particular one, I use one of the scripts that I've included.

00:01:29:14 - 00:01:52:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so I shot this 1 in 1 take. You'll notice I'm going to cut off because I'm just getting ready to play pickup basketball on Tuesday morning of, before staff meeting this week. And so I just still had that outfit on. I grab my phone selfie style video, low pressure sitting in my office, and then I use this script, like I said, included in the social media pack, and I think it landed perfectly.

00:01:52:13 - 00:01:56:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But best of all, again, if you're watching here on YouTube, check this thing out.

00:01:56:00 - 00:02:06:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I edited this whole thing in the TikTok TikTok video. TikTok was that TikTok video editor at man, and it looks so professional.

00:02:06:24 - 00:02:10:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And here's how it performed on Instagram. We got 179 views, ten likes,

00:02:10:21 - 00:02:18:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
YouTube, 895 views, four likes and then TikTok 535 views and 55 likes.

00:02:18:17 - 00:02:40:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Post three is another one of the custom for you. This is the transition hook style video, so this one is a vertical piece of content where I include the start of the video and then here at the very end, it cuts to one of our, students in our ministry that's actually, acting out the rest of it, where he then stands up and he talks to people about God.

00:02:40:27 - 00:02:52:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And, sometimes we invite people to church. Sometimes we invite people to events to Sunday morning to Wednesday night, or we just simply talk about the importance of leaning in to God and trusting him. But what I want you to see here is look at this on

00:02:52:07 - 00:02:55:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Instagram. 427 views, 16 likes

00:02:55:01 - 00:02:59:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
YouTube 1686 views 16 likes. Check this one out

00:02:59:13 - 00:03:03:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
TikTok only 50 views zero likes.

00:03:03:13 - 00:03:03:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Now I want to

00:03:03:23 - 00:03:20:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
stop here and talk for a second. What do you do when you experience a post like this? My guess is, you've done something like this before. You've tried something before, you've tried your hand at social media, and you've gotten a post like this one, right? Here's the thing. Just like basketball, many of you know I'm a huge basketball fan.

00:03:20:13 - 00:03:41:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Just like basketball, you have to trust the process. Sometimes you guard your kids to the best of your ability. And here is where we do turn around. Three pointer at the end of the shot clock and it goes in. But all you can do is control what you can control, get in position, practice and use and do the fundamentals and just continue to execute.

00:03:41:29 - 00:04:00:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Sometimes it goes well for you and other times not so well. But the fact of the matter is you just got to keep showing up. And that's really the game with social media. And that's what makes it so hard. I think a lot of times for youth pastors is to continue to show up when you experience less than, you know, less than encouraging results.

00:04:00:29 - 00:04:19:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Kind of like this one, right? And you'll notice this is a clunker, but it's a clunker on TikTok. And that's why I recommend diversifying the platforms that you use. I have analytics from YouTube. I have analytics from Instagram, and I like how both of those performed, even though on TikTok it didn't quite perform how I want it to.

00:04:19:16 - 00:04:33:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But that's okay because I still got over 2000 views, or at least close to it. I'm doing math in my head on the fly. Never a good recipe, but, I and I got over 2000 views, across two other platforms, even though I only got 50 on one.

00:04:33:28 - 00:05:11:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Hey, youth pastors, church communications people, would you like to have your social media dialed in for the next 90 days, especially with summer on the horizon? Listen, that's exactly what you're going to get with the summer and seasonal social media packets. A new product that I'm rolling out exclusively on my Patreon is three months of custom strategic content for less than $20, and this is built specifically for busy youth pastors like you who want to stay active on TikTok and Instagram Reels and YouTube without spending ten plus hours a month figuring out what to post.

00:05:11:19 - 00:05:32:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So here's what you're going to get. You're going to get 50% of the content completely done. It's turnkey. Plug and play, post it and go. The other 50% is custom content for you to still shoot. However, I'm going to provide scripts and templates and frameworks so that your face, your students and your volunteers are who are seen on your social media feeds.

00:05:32:24 - 00:05:54:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This is not just pretty graphics. This is a full blown social media strategy for the next three months, designed by someone who knows both youth ministry and digital ministry. And so if you're tired of scrambling for the cost of less than a pizza and frankly, more nourishing than a pizza, grab the seasonal social media pack today. Oh, and I almost forgot.

00:05:55:02 - 00:05:57:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Patreon members get it for free.

00:05:57:20 - 00:06:11:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
All right, post number four is the fourth and final one I'm going to share with you today. This one is again from the done for you section. And this woman is so plug and play. I've already created it for you, even though the thumbnail says I created none of these.

00:06:11:15 - 00:06:27:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I created all of these, but I created them for you to take and to do and to download. And I supply all of the different verse texts. And here's how it performed. Instagram 207 views eight likes YouTube 1198 views 62 likes

00:06:27:01 - 00:06:30:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
one comment from Jenna Jack which says I memorized this passage.

00:06:30:29 - 00:06:36:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then on TikTok 507 views 95 likes one comment to save

00:06:36:12 - 00:06:41:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
the summer social media pack includes eight different types of videos.

00:06:41:10 - 00:07:00:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I've shared four of them with you. Two of the ones I share with you were from the done for you section, and two of the ones I share with you are from the custom for you section. The custom for you are making your social media about you, you, your leaders, your students like making you guys the real heroes on your social media.

00:07:00:24 - 00:07:07:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But to channel my inner Billy Mays here, I want to say, but wait, there's more.

00:07:07:04 - 00:07:25:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I also pulled out one of our seven questions archetypes, and that's included in the bonus section of the content with over 100 different topic type ideas. And on this particular seven questions, we took it to our studio in our church, and I sat down with two of our students, two of our high school girls, and they played seven questions.

00:07:25:03 - 00:07:45:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
One of them was thinking of something in their head, and the category was beach item, and she was thinking of Beach Umbrella. And the other one had to guess. And for that one on Instagram, we had 431 views and 19 likes. On YouTube we had 227 views, eight likes, and on TikTok we had 963 views and 21 likes.

00:07:46:00 - 00:08:02:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We also then, with a couple of our high school boys, sat down and did a NBA dress section, which I do have words for these guys because nobody, nobody included the MVP of the NBA this year one Shay Gilgeous Alexander. Regardless of that, here's

00:08:02:18 - 00:08:08:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
how their post performed on our social media on Instagram 500 views, 17 likes, two comments, seven shares

00:08:08:27 - 00:08:17:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
YouTube 1244 views 13 likes TikTok 862 views 36 likes three

00:08:17:04 - 00:08:18:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
comments and two saves.

00:08:18:05 - 00:08:27:19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And listen, the comments are not always the nicest, especially when you do sports stuff. So just be on the lookout for that. Protect your students. Or, you know, I don't know, maybe don't.

00:08:27:19 - 00:08:39:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But here's what I notice, right? Variety works. You'll notice I share with you, two from our PAC, two from Denver. Done for you, two from custom, and then two of my bonus ideas.

00:08:40:01 - 00:09:05:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
All very different varieties. Some spiritual, some not spiritual, some plug and play, some where you have to do a little bit of editing, but every style hits differently. Some are more reflective, some were more scroll stopping. But the big takeaway is that I didn't actually create any of these from scratch. And so like I said, every single one of these comes straight out of my summer content social media pack.

00:09:05:17 - 00:09:10:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You get it for just 1799 is linked down below in the description, which is

00:09:10:17 - 00:09:32:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
three months worth of your social media strategy. And that's actually only $0.07 per post idea. It's insane value. You would not avoid buying something for $0.07 if it was going to really increase. And add so much value to your life. Just look at how performed on our social channels.

00:09:32:16 - 00:09:58:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
These are real results from a real student ministry in Dallas, Texas area. They can be your results to. All you got to do is head over to the link and download those. You won't. You will not regret it. Listen, I want you to save actual time this summer for actual ministry. Let me do the work. Let me play on your social media calendar and hey, I'll see you next week with more info and deep dives like this.

00:09:58:27 - 00:10:02:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And don't forget, as always my friends, to stay hybrid.

Episode 152: This Social Media Post is dead in 2025 - What to do instead

Nick Clason — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 05:00:00 -0500

The “done-for-you” social media strategy is dead in 2025—and it might be quietly hurting your ministry. HubSpot’s latest report says real impact comes from micro-connections over time, not cookie-cutter content. If you want to win on social this summer without burning out, show up with authenticity, stay consistent, and use tools that amplify your voice—not replace it.

*🦸 HYBRID HEROS GET IT FOR FREE! *
https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry

SHOW NOTES
Shownotes & Transcripts
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/152

//HubSpot x Masters in Marketing - 2025 Global Social Media Trends Report
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/hubspot-blog-social-media-marketing-report

✅ CHURCH COMMS DONE FOR YOU
Hire me to run your church website, social media or communications!
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/comms

📊 [FREE] HYBRID STRATEGY GUIDE
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book

📋 "PICK NICK'S BRAIN" Coaching Call
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/coaching

BEST DYM RESOURCES
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym

OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361

//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit

--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Tomatoes & Youth Ministry?
00:46 Social Fluency & Micro-Connections
01:50 Social Fluency Real Time Example
02:14 Do All "Done For You" Products Suck?
03:06 Social Media for Busy Youth Pastors in 2025
05:27 Your Custom Summer Social Media Plan
07:00 Micro Connections - Consistency over Perfection
07:58 Social Media without the Burnout

--------------
TRANSCRIPT

00:00:00:10 - 00:00:24:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Buying a tomato is now an existential crisis. I was reading the recent Global Social Media Trends report put out by HubSpot. Link to that down below in the show notes if you're interested. What does that have to do with you and your youth ministry? It actually has a lot to do with you in your youth ministry, because today we're going to talk about social fluency.

00:00:24:25 - 00:00:50:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
What is it? Why does it matter now more than ever, and how churches who are ignoring this are being left behind? Plus, I'm going to show you how you can win at that social media fluency through social media this summer. Even when you're slammed with VBS camps and mission trips. Welcome to the Hybrid Ministry. Why is buying a tomato an existential crisis?

00:00:50:01 - 00:01:14:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Because there are so many decisions to make. It used to be easy. You wanted a tomato. You walk to the grocery store, you bought the tomato. Now there are so many options. Amy Marino from HubSpot nailed it. She says social fluency is what drives results. This isn't about having the slickest reals or trendiest memes. It's about mastering a thing called micro Connections.

00:01:14:07 - 00:01:35:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We're going to dive into that a little bit later, but HubSpot says that every buyer's journey is made up of small connections over time. And I get it. You're thinking like, well, I'm not selling anything. And in a way, absolutely you are not. But in a way, absolutely you are. That does apply directly to you, your church and your ministry.

00:01:35:11 - 00:02:02:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so students and parents aren't checking your Instagram once and then deciding whether or not they're coming to your church or not. It's made up. This social fluency thing is made up of touch points and consistency and relevance. Okay, like for example, let's break this down. A parent sees your Bible verse post on your Instagram. Then later on that week they see your Wednesday night youth ministry recap and then a post from their kid.

00:02:02:18 - 00:02:32:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You see, that's trust built one scroll, one block at a time. That's what social fluency is. And so whether you're in the market for a tomato or a youth ministry, here's the kicker. These church ministry platforms and products that are, branded as done for you, they suck. Is that harsh? Well, maybe, but here's why. And I'm going to be honest with you, because I believe that it removes you, the youth pastor, from the equation.

00:02:32:26 - 00:02:58:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You are the connection. You are the relationship. And so when every single post looks the same, when every single post looks generic, when every post is downloaded in such a way that any youth ministry in the country in the world can use that product. It doesn't pack the punch that you want it to do. It doesn't build social fluency and you miss the nuances of your community.

00:02:58:22 - 00:03:21:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You know, I talked about it several episodes ago. I said, stop posting video announcements if you're here on YouTube, it's linked up at the top of the screen. But social is no longer about those slick ads. It's about being present and authentic, and it's about being human. But wait, you're busy. You have VBS this week. You have summer camp the week after that, and then you're taking a mission trip in the middle of the summer.

00:03:21:08 - 00:03:47:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I get it. Trust me, I'm a 15 year youth ministry veteran. Also trying to lean in to social media and hybrid ministry. In addition to that, on the weekly basis, you're leading games, you're preaching, you're planning summer trips. That is why I have built for you and for all youth ministries this summer. Social media kit. It is a 50% done for you like I was talking about, but it also has custom for you.

00:03:47:21 - 00:04:16:19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So in the done for you category I have Bible verse reels. I have emoji phrase guesses, I have spiritual practice videos and I have what to do when you're facing blank carousel Bible based posts. I also have a full posting strategy that I recommend, and if you don't want to follow mine, then you can build your own. But then beyond that, then this is where I really believe it is the next level sort of pack because it's 50% custom done for you.

00:04:16:20 - 00:04:35:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So I have devotionals where I'm telling you what to do, how to how to recap your most recent sermon. But if you don't have any ideas, I just give you a devotional script, read it, memorize it, go direct to camera and you are off to the races. I have interview style man on the street style questions with included graphics.

00:04:35:25 - 00:04:54:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So all you have to do is capture, put together and then overlay with the graphics that I have provided. I have transition hook style videos and I've included the first half of the videos. I've found them for you. All you have to do is shoot yourself, your leaders, your students, your pastor, whoever at the end of the video and invite someone to youth or to whatever event.

00:04:54:05 - 00:05:19:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then finally I have Bible trivia where I have included the graphics as well as the questions for you. So again, this is all very much the grunt work is handled the templates, the graphics, the prompts, and you can quickly swap yourself in to become the hero on your social media, to build that social fluency so that it'll be your voice, that it will be your photos, and that it'll be your vibe.

00:05:19:23 - 00:05:48:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You and your students and your leaders are still what is present on your social media content. Hey, youth pastors, church communications people, would you like to have your social media dialed in for the next 90 days? Especially with summer on the horizon? Listen, that's exactly what you're going to get with the summer and seasonal social media pack. It's a new product that I'm rolling exclusively on my Patreon.

00:05:48:16 - 00:06:09:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's three months of custom strategic content for less than $20, and this is built specifically for busy youth pastors like you who want to stay active on TikTok and Instagram Reels and YouTube without spending ten plus hours a month figuring out what to post. So here's what you're going to get. You're going to get 50% of the content completely done.

00:06:09:04 - 00:06:37:19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's turnkey plug and play, post it and go. The other 50% is custom content for you to still shoot. However, I'm going to provide scripts and templates and frameworks so that your face, your students and your volunteers are who are seen on your social media feeds. This is not just pretty graphics. This is a full blown social media strategy for the next three months, designed by someone who knows both youth ministry and digital ministry.

00:06:37:20 - 00:07:01:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so if you're tired of scrambling for the cost of less than a pizza and frankly, more nourishing than a pizza, grab the seasonal social media pack today. Oh, and I almost forgot. Patreon members get it for free. You know this HubSpot, trends article? There's a quote that says A buyer's purchasing experience is made up of small connections over time.

00:07:01:24 - 00:07:23:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And quite frankly, that's the same thing that is true with students. A student's discipleship journey is built on these things called micro connections. And so in person that's youth group. That's high five, that's fist bumps, that's showing up at their football games. But we now have the advantage in a hybrid world to lean into the digital side of those relationships as well.

00:07:24:05 - 00:08:01:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Social posts, DMs, reels, stories. They're all digital handshakes. And so I encourage youth pastors to show up consistently, not perfectly, but just regularly and show up. And the way that you show up is by putting your voice, your face, and your ministry out there. And that is a way to build that social fluency. But with the summer social media pack, you're also not going to be burning out while you're still making those digital and in-person micro connections, because I've done it all for you.

00:08:01:07 - 00:08:25:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The fact of the matter is, social media in 2025, it's not optional. It's spiritual hospitality. And the thing is, the churches who get this social fluency, they will reach more people. They will reach more deeply. So do you want to crush it this summer without cloning somebody else's completely done for you scripted strategies and grab down below link in the description.

00:08:25:29 - 00:08:35:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The Summer kit, and you can take your social media to the next level. Well, don't forget my friends and as always to stay hybrid.

Episode 147: From No Budget to Pro - Summer Camp 2025 Photography & Videography Setup Guide

Nick Clason — Thu, 01 May 2025 05:00:00 -0500

Want pro-level camp content without a pro-level budget? In this episode, Nick Clason, of Hybrid Ministry, breaks down the exact gear, tips, and hacks you need to capture incredible summer camp photos and videos—even if you’re starting from scratch. Whether you’re using a phone, DSLR, or just your creativity, we’ll help you level up your visual game to create that momentum back at your church that camp deserves!

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https://www.hybridministry.xyz/147

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Hire me to run your church website, social media or communications!
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--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Why Summer Camps Matter
01:14 Why Camp Videography & Photography Matter
03:16 Step #1 No Matter What
04:37 Easy Camp Media Strategy
06:25 Medium [& FREE!] Camp Media Strategy
11:11 Most Difficult [But Best] Camp Media Strategy

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
00;00;00;22 - 00;00;28;00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So when I first started in youth ministry, I was like a mission trip guy. All about mission trips. Took my students on their first mission trip, charge them around $1,000, travel, lodging, all the things that you need to do pretty cheap for a mission trip, honestly. And then I was getting ready doing my budget and calendaring process for the next year, and I started thinking, like in the current context in which I was in all the same students, we're going to go back on the same mission trip.

00;00;28;03 - 00;00;56;09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
They're going to write support letters to all the same people. And I was like, it might be too soon. So decided to do a camp, stumbled into an amazing camp experience that we did and produced all by ourselves, trying to keep it dirt cheap and thus invented my love for summer camp at that point. Now, some of you have been all around summer camp, but what became so necessary was the need for amazing videography and amazing photography at summer camp.

00;00;56;09 - 00;01;21;05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so in this episode, I want to tell you how I stumbled into it, and I want to give you three ideas of how you can have amazing camp content that is going to help, reinforce and help your church get on board with your summer camp experience. Welcome, my friends, to the Hybrid Ministry Show. So the continuation of that story is I start going to camp, we start adding more and more students, and I'm at my business meeting.

00;01;21;05 - 00;01;42;01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Give me a like, if you've ever had to go to a congregational business meeting. And I had a few naysayers who were like, this is an astronomical amount to spend for camp. What I felt like they may not have been taking into consideration is the fact that, like, I had to get approval to spend the entire amount of money, including the money that students were going to be paying into it.

00;01;42;01 - 00;02;02;13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so, like the total amount of money out of the budget was like five grand. But in totality, I was requesting something like $46,000 to be spent, but that included the $300 student registration, you know, or whatever it was. And so with those naysayers, I then was like, I need I need them to see why this is worth it.

00;02;02;13 - 00;02;23;03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I need them to get on board. And I need I want the church to support what the student ministry is doing. And so I went to my friend who was my roommate in college and I knew had a degree in like digital media. And I was like, bro, what do I need to pay you to come to camp and create amazing recap videos that are going to make people cry.

00;02;23;06 - 00;02;47;29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then, the very next Sunday, we were back at church and we shared like a testimony recap video that was like 12 minutes long. And some kids were like, I accepted Jesus at the altar the last night of camp. And I mean, I'm telling you, there was not a dry eye in the room. Camp media is an amazing tool to help your parents, your church, your pastor, your boss.

00;02;47;29 - 00;03;08;03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
See what's going on at camp. And in this video, I want to share with you an easy way to do it for basically free. I want to share with you a medium, difficulty level of doing it. And then I want to share with you a higher level of difficulty and perhaps the most expensive, but probably, as always, as you know, the more you pay, the better the product.

00;03;08;07 - 00;03;35;19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Let's hop in. Welcome to this edition of How Do I Do? Camp media on the Hybrid Ministry show. So first and foremost, you want to have some sort of text message or, channel back to parents. Okay. So you can send them links to your videos, links to albums, links to photos, whatever it is that you take. And so, like I said, we're going to do an easy a medium and a higher level of difficulty in this episode.

00;03;35;19 - 00;03;59;07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But first and foremost, philosophy, basically, no matter what level of difficulty you do, you need to have some sort of, channel back to parents. That's going to be your number one advocate, especially for the week while you're at camp. Now, once you return, if you have like a student take over Sunday or whatever, like you can you can implement some of these things that you've you've pulled together at camp and find a way to package them and show them to the rest of your congregation.

00;03;59;09 - 00;04;17;20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But while you're at camp, if you want to have a buzz amongst your parents, you need to get it back into them. So, you can do some sort of text message group. You can do some sort of Facebook group. You can even post some of this stuff on your YouTube channel and then send the links to those in your Facebook group or in your text message group, or your parent email chain.

00;04;17;20 - 00;04;32;12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Whatever it is, figure out what works best in your context, but have something easy and preferably something that you can use on your phone. So as soon as you get a link, you can copy the link, you can send it out and you do it all on your mobile device. You don't need to sit down at a computer and try and find a way to do it at camp.

00;04;32;12 - 00;05;00;20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Now, how do you do easy videos at camp? Let's hop in. So the first way that you can do it is you can walk around with your camera, vertical based video, and you can, very simply, you can, auto cut those videos in an app like TikTok or in your Instagram Reels editor, and you can send out daily, shorts, daily TikToks, daily real type videos.

00;05;00;22 - 00;05;19;22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And you can send the links to those in text groups or, in some sort of Facebook became post posts in Facebook. That's super easy. You or leader walk around vertical based video and all you need is clips of anywhere from 5 to 8 seconds. You don't need any longer because you're just going to overlay it with music and maybe some captions on screen and off you go.

00;05;19;27 - 00;05;38;23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You want to keep those 60s or less. And so the quicker and shorter the videos. So if you have the wherewithal in your mind to walk around, play your camera out five seconds, eight seconds, seven seconds, nine seconds, three seconds and then stitch all those together in like an auto cut feature in TikTok. You're going to be going in and off to the races.

00;05;38;26 - 00;05;58;22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Now. How do you easily, source photos? You tell your students, hey, send pictures on this hashtag, or if they're not going to post on like, Instagram, like that, send photos in this text group and this DM thread, whatever you choose to use some sort of, function to get those photos back to you, create a shared Google Photos album, whatever.

00;05;58;25 - 00;06;15;02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Put all your pictures in here, and then you can crowdsource those, and you can create a slideshow at the end of the night. Or if you're at some sort of camp, like a, like a generate or a feud or a lift or something like that, where you don't have control over what ends up on screen, then you create albums and you send those out in Facebook groups to parents.

00;06;15;02 - 00;06;36;14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
That's the easiest, lowest hanging fruit. Okay, now what about medium? And this is honestly, this is a big step up and it's going to cost you next to nothing. Let's check it out. So genuinely I've done this before okay. And if you want to create daily recap videos again you have control of the screens. So daily recap videos that you can show in your sessions.

00;06;36;21 - 00;06;53;17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Or if you don't have control of the screens at a minimum daily recap videos that you can post to YouTube. Let me show you how you can do it on Cap cut. All right, so if you're watching here on screen, this is what I did, a couple years ago, we didn't hire and have money, for a videographer.

00;06;53;17 - 00;07;13;23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so I would do daily recap videos in the cabin at night, throw my headphones on, and kids are all sleeping. And so I'm here on cap cut out, hit new project. And let's just do these, videos of my dog, okay? And so I would click, all the videos I want to add and I'd click add three.

00;07;13;25 - 00;07;40;14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And here I am now and I can create some sort of video. So there's my dog and there's another video of my dog and there's another little video of my dog. Now, what you can do is you can add animations, and anything if you are doing like a free account, anything with like the little like pro features or things, there.

00;07;40;16 - 00;08;06;18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Those don't use those. But if you find any of the ones like this one right here, that is free, okay, it'll come right in. And there you go. Boom off you go. And if you want to like add a text that says, you know, like day one recap. Put it right there and hope I'm exporting. Don't want to export quit.

00;08;06;21 - 00;08;25;29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So there it is. Day one recap. Now I can edit this text click style. And once again you want to make sure you don't add a pro feature. So see those little corners right there. So this one's this one's free. Day one recap. Change the font. Find one that's not a pro font. And off we go.

00;08;26;02 - 00;08;47;15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Right right there. All of these are not pro fonts. And so the main thing if you want to keep it free is that you don't add anything. Pro font. All right. Right here I can add some sort of transition. So here's a transition that's not that is pro don't remind me again. I might not. Oh here's one pull in.

00;08;47;17 - 00;09;15;22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Okay. And there we go. And I go all the way through at the end. I can also add things like, stickers. I can add text to audio, and I can add music. And that's what I do when I add some audio. And so if I want to go to some sounds and find something like this one here, that's not, that's not, pro.

00;09;15;24 - 00;09;41;03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Now I got a video and then I hit export. And we are off to the races. And you'll see here on screen, if you're watching, you can see the finalized video of my dog. It's beautiful. Who doesn't love it? This would take me about an hour after lights out, but I want to let you know that it is completely free, so after you've done your capture video, what if you want photos?

00;09;41;08 - 00;10;01;00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Well, what if you took a leader, not someone who's have an elite? A small group would be a cabin leader, and they're just a dedicated photographer. You're only cost in that. Give them a cell phone. Have them take it on an iPhone. Google pixel, a nice phone. You're only cost in. That is your perhaps payment of their registration fee.

00;10;01;00 - 00;10;25;24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Unless, of course, you're charging your leaders to go, in which case you're good and you say, hey, listen, your only job is take photos and send these daily recaps back home to parents, and you give them that job. And so all week, their entire sole focus using just their cell phone is to take good photos. And so then with your daily recaps and your lidar photos, you can, bring those back and you can present those to your church.

00;10;25;24 - 00;10;42;23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Now, the last little bit in this is if you want and studio, link down below. You can grab some Bluetooth microphones. You can also take some video on your cell phone, just like I showed you. Stitch it together and cap cut. But you can take students testimonies and tell them, hey, what, what stood out to you?

00;10;42;23 - 00;11;00;17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
How to God move in your life this week? Like all that type of stuff? And you can create a recap testimony video and you can show that on screen the quality is great. You saw the export quality was like 1080p. You can export it even up to 4K, and you can shoot it in 4K on your camera if it if it's able to handle it.

00;11;00;20 - 00;11;20;05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then you can show that on a screen. You can also post that to something like YouTube and then share it in your Facebook group. But what about the best and probably most expensive? Well, let's dive in. Your final your best is you want those daily recap videos. You want that final big testimony video. Your best bang.

00;11;20;07 - 00;11;38;22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like, not bang for your buck, right? This is going to cost you money, but you hire a videographer. Maybe you're church or something. Maybe you know someone, but you bring someone in, they bring all their own gear and they, follow students around. They capture footage, and their entire job is to create daily recap videos for you on the big screen at night.

00;11;38;22 - 00;11;59;02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If you have control of that, or post them to YouTube and then create that testimony video. And if you can hire that same person, or maybe hire a second person to take photos on a good camera that they have, that's going to be your highest barrier to entry. You're probably going to have to a pay for them to go to camp, be pay for their lodging and all that stuff.

00;11;59;05 - 00;12;18;11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So let's say that's anywhere from 3 to $400, and then you're going to pay them a fee, 800 bucks, 1500 bucks. It is expensive. But if you have the budget, I'm just telling you like it does end up being worth it and you end up with much higher quality footage. And what you can do on your phone and much higher caliber photos.

00;12;18;11 - 00;12;44;14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Now, if you're like, bro, I can't even get anywhere near that, then that medium range won't for you. As long as you're willing to put the work in. As long as you're willing to use cap cut, you can do it for very cheap and frankly, very free. And still get a very, very good result. Now, listen, your camp experience is very important, and students lives are often marked and changed at camp.

00;12;44;16 - 00;13;12;22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And what's also very important is that your people back home support you. Your parents know what's going on, and they can advocate and create a buzz around your student ministry. So don't fumble the bag. This summer on creating amazing camp media and amazing camp content. I'm rooting for you, have an amazing camp and crush it with a digital media this summer so that your church can get on board and support what your student ministry has going on.

00;13;12;29 - 00;13;16;25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Thanks for being here. We'll talk next time and don't forget to stay hybrid.

Episode 142: How I Got Started doing Youth Group Social Media from scratch with Andrew Ostrander

Nick Clason — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 05:00:00 -0500

In this episode, I interview Andrew Ostrander, who shares his journey from education to youth ministry, discussing the challenges and surprises he faced during the transition. He walks you through the importance of engaging social media content to connect with students, detailing his approach to creating interview-style videos that resonate with youth culture. Andrew also highlights the benefits of delegating tasks, the significance of personal connections in ministry, and his future plans for expanding social media efforts. The conversation concludes with encouragement for new youth pastors to embrace social media as a tool for building community and fostering relationships.

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https://www.hybridministry.xyz/142

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//COHORT EPISODE
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https://www.youtube.com/@WakarusaStudentMinistries
https://www.instagram.com/wakymc_stumin/

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--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 How I Run My Youth Group Social Media
02:16 How did you end up here?
04:42 Tell us your social media journey
06:39 What Type of Content do you Make?
10:31 What Equipment do you use?
12:36 In-Person Benefits Have you Seen?
14:55 Do you have Future Plans?
17:20 What Would you Tell a Hesitant Youth Pastor?

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (00:29.856)
Well hey what is up everybody I am here with none other than Andrew Ostrander did I say that right? Yes! It doesn't feel like it's that difficult but it feels like it might trip some people up you know what saying?

Andrew Ostrander (00:47.413)
You nailed it.

Thanks.

I've gotten Ostrander more than I've ever gotten Ostrander. So you're in the right.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (00:57.918)
Really? Yes, okay, nice, good. My gut, my intuition was right. So you and I, met through a youth ministry leader cohort and we were in that together on calls together and stuff like that. But I started just kind of noticing and paying attention to you and your social media, because that's really the only way to like...

pay attention to some thing from someone who lives over a thousand miles away. And so, but I started noticing, I was like, I like what this guy's doing. And so that's why you're here. Talk to me, you know, we're gonna talk a little bit about your social media, but before we do, why don't you let like the people know like, who are you, where are you at, how long you've been in youth ministry, all that, you good stuff.

Andrew Ostrander (01:29.518)
the

Andrew Ostrander (01:46.712)
Yep, so you've already touched on it. I'm Andrew Ostrander and I'm currently the director of student ministries at Waukerusa Missionary Church in a super small town, Waukerusa, Indiana. This is month seven or eight of my role in youth ministry. I had volunteered for multiple years beforehand, but I actually came from the education world. So I was a fifth and sixth grade teacher for three years before this position opened up and

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (01:53.396)
Nice.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (02:05.055)
Yeah.

Andrew Ostrander (02:13.206)
was very clearly that God was shoving me through this doorway in youth ministry. And so that's how I ended up where I am.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (02:17.426)
Nice. Yeah, so you didn't even go to like school for youth ministry or whatever. And so here you find yourself now kind of like thrust into it. Before we hop into like the particular social media stuff, tell me what's been like the biggest shift or the biggest surprise or the biggest just difference that you've noticed between your two kind of careers if you put them side by side.

Andrew Ostrander (02:42.85)
Yeah, I think there's a glaring amount of similarities that people wouldn't expect between education and ministry, but those are definitely there. I think the biggest difference or thing that we weren't fully prepared for, I was to the point where after God had clearly guided me here and I knew this is where I needed to be, I was ready to switch jobs. But then the act of switching churches is what really hit us hardest. I had grown up and attended one church for much of my, all of my upbringing.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (02:59.637)
Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (03:02.912)
Mm.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (03:10.098)
Yeah. Yeah.

Andrew Ostrander (03:12.396)
And then most of my adult life after college. And so that was just such a huge change of pace and where you're so used to being on Sundays, you're no longer there on Sundays. So I think that was the biggest.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (03:20.256)
Mmm.

Yeah. Yeah. One thing about it too, like, I mean, I've always said this, but like when you move and you're in ministry, like you don't just like move jobs, but like you move everything, like everything up roots, including your community and your, you know, your church, your, family, like your church family, all that type of stuff. So yeah, that's, that is so true and probably super relatable to, you know, most youth pastors. okay. But then go ahead.

Andrew Ostrander (03:47.79)
I know you've experienced that even way more than I have, so you can relate.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (03:53.2)
Yeah, yeah, definitely can. But if you're not used to it or know it, right, you're like, whoa, it is a little culture shocky or whatever, for sure. So, okay, then tell me then what sort of spurred you, led you towards what you're doing with your student ministry social media? Maybe first of all, what shone a light to you that was like, I should do more than just post announcement graphics on my social media feed.

Andrew Ostrander (04:21.868)
Yeah, so I was never a super avid social media user. Twitter and sports Twitter was where I was at in college and after. But I had just always seen the church. Like you said, it's like a hey, Wednesday nights coming up tomorrow, that type of thing, or ice skating this Friday. Join us for week three of this series. even even I was like, wow, that's not not that that's dumb, but I was uninspired.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (04:30.665)
Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (04:37.844)
Don't forget, yes, yeah. Yeah, no one cares about your series, yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (04:47.944)
Yeah.

Andrew Ostrander (04:50.986)
And so when I started here, I was interested in social media. But then as you touched on the way that we met through that cohort, you had given a specific lesson and not to stroke your ego or build you up. But it's a lot of credit towards you and just how you guided that. It's really stuck with me when you said, we know that the students are there and it doesn't matter how we feel about it or if we like it. Why are we not meeting them where they're at?

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (04:51.026)
Right.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (04:59.029)
Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (05:03.904)
Hahaha

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (05:13.215)
Yeah.

Hmm. Hmm, yeah.

Andrew Ostrander (05:18.722)
And so that was just a huge challenge to me of making engaging social media of some sort and really just trying to get students to buy in.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (05:23.946)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, and you know, like the cohort was an interactive deal and you know, the kind of like lesson or whatever that I led on all that was made for exactly that. But I'll link down below an episode that's like really similar to like that conversation that we walked through on that. So if any of you are like, what was that? Like you can check that out down below. But so now you, that was your inspiration sort of.

And everyone does things a little different, know, and I my like ebook and stuff like that I give tips and whatever like what exactly Did you like or what have you sort of like stumbled into like doing that's like been working really well For like you and like your particular like church student ministry social media

Andrew Ostrander (06:13.944)
Yeah, so when talking about the sports social media background that I've interacted with, I never ran anything as myself, but I've just interacted with that a ton. And so one of the podcasts I had previously listened to talked about the difference of short form and long form video. And so I had really, and you had touched on it as well, the importance and prevalence of short form video. So that's really where we started to focus in and without having any...

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (06:18.302)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (06:23.402)
Sure.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (06:30.665)
Mm-hmm.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (06:37.568)
Mm-hmm.

Andrew Ostrander (06:42.964)
studio or recording equipment. Yeah. We really appreciate and love the space that we have. It's not set up for having a quiet, conducive recording area for anything longer or even anything specifically for social media. And so we really went on the interview style, man on the street style videos. And so when I transferred over here, one of my former students also came along with me as a now volunteer.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (06:43.976)
Right. Space. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (06:52.864)
Right, right.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (06:58.73)
Mm-hmm.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (07:03.017)
Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (07:09.733)
cool. That's awesome.

Andrew Ostrander (07:12.118)
And so I knew that I wouldn't have the capacity on Wednesday nights to record and do all of these. And so I proposed to him of a weekly routine of when students are welcome into the doors, but we haven't started programming, that I give him a question of the week and he goes around and asks random, funny, sometimes not as funny questions just to hear what students say. And the results are pretty amusing.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (07:18.154)
Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (07:25.321)
Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (07:32.766)
Sure.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (07:36.287)
Oh, bro, there's so much good in that, right? So like a couple of principles I heard. Number one, like, cause this is one of the common pushbacks I feel like I hear is like, I don't have time and you acknowledge that, right? You, you knew your limits already, but you were like, that's okay. I'm going to hand this off to somebody else. So like in and of itself right there, genius, like get it off your plate. You're

promoting it, facilitating an opportunity for it to happen. However, so like that's leadership, but you're getting out of the way and delegating and letting somebody else kind of like own it, which is just fantastic. And then the second is like you said, like you didn't let the constraints of what you felt like your space offered or maybe didn't offer like stop you. And that's again, another like thing that I think is so good because we oftentimes like, I don't have, you know, the best equipment or the, you know,

bougie is set up or whatever and it's like, who cares? We all carry around a camera in our pockets and the ability to use that to make content that ends up where students are, like you said, so, good. So tell us a little bit of what are some of your favorite questions or what have been some of the things that have maybe taken root culturally within your student ministry that people are like, that video was hilarious because X, Y, and Z. What are some of the...

The funniest ones you've had are the ones that have gotten the most talk about afterwards or just even been like, yeah, the most amusing.

Andrew Ostrander (09:07.736)
Yeah, the first one that we actually did, so I had wanted to do it after you talked about social media and I was just figuring out what I wanted to do. And then my wife and I were out to dinner with two of our volunteers, our sponsors, and we got into controversies or like conspiracy theories that this individual was bigly bought into. And so that actually stemmed our first question of, you believe in aliens? And so I think that question has provided the most like,

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (09:13.896)
Yeah. Okay.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (09:20.156)
Okay.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (09:25.728)
You

Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (09:33.248)
that's so funny.

Andrew Ostrander (09:38.2)
people would pause and then they automatically had the answer that they believed in, but could not explain why or why not that they believed the way that they did.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (09:40.224)
Right, so funny. Yeah. yeah, that's funny. So then how, like, what are you doing for that? Like, tell me what exactly, you know, your volunteer is doing. Is he using his camera? Is he using any gear? you know, get kind of nerdy on us. Like, what actual stuff are you doing to capture it, record it, and then maybe even like edit it?

Andrew Ostrander (10:08.12)
Yeah, so it's about to be like the lamest set of nerdy equipment that we use.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (10:12.468)
That's okay. Here's the thing, before you answer, this is what the boat, almost everyone is in. And that's why I love it, is because you're not letting whatever constraints you have stop you, you're just going for it. And yeah, it might just be a cell phone camera or whatever, but that's okay. Just do it. So yeah, let us have it.

Andrew Ostrander (10:33.015)
so the compilation of questions that we've come up with is stored on my phone notes app. And then we, sat down and decide what question we're going to ask that night. And then it is just a cell phone camera. And so I had gone online and was looking out for mic options quickly realizing that most of them were super expensive. So we have, I think it was like a $10 pair of the, lav mics and it's so cheap and old that

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (10:38.857)
Yep.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (10:45.077)
Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (10:50.174)
Yeah.

Andrew Ostrander (10:59.616)
My phone is the only one that we can use because it has the lightning connector. And so he takes my phone and those $10, $20 lav mics. And that is how it gets recorded. We just figured out how to change video settings to try to increase the video quality a little bit, but that took a couple of months before we got to. then editing is something that I set aside time for every week. So I've been using Final Cut Pro on my Mac and that's, go through and edit and.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (11:02.464)
nice.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (11:07.456)
A $10 microphone,

Okay.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (11:17.16)
There you go.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (11:23.88)
Yeah. Nice.

Yeah. And so then are you doing, are you just sending him around all throughout the program? Like is he doing it ahead of time, after, both? Like what's sort of like his schedule as far as like the interview person?

Andrew Ostrander (11:29.464)
change scenes how I want to.

Andrew Ostrander (11:42.318)
Yep. So we have like a team volunteer huddle every Wednesday night. So we're there until 6.15, 6.20. And then by that time, a lot of the students are here after our doors open. So he goes out from 6.20 until we start programming at 6.35, 6.40. So he only really does it for 15 or 20 minutes. So some weeks it's pretty limited if it's a longer question.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (11:46.196)
Mm-hmm.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (11:51.124)
Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (12:01.76)
Okay.

Yeah.

Andrew Ostrander (12:08.11)
but it just has that time where students are roaming and choosing what to do before programming starts to get those interviews in.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (12:08.117)
Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (12:13.192)
Yeah, so okay, so now my question is, do you have students who seek him out now every week wanting to answer so that they can be on social?

Andrew Ostrander (12:22.993)
Yes, I have certain students that I see their video every single week after he records. I'm pushing like, hey, let's try to get some others. But there's clearly students that are super excited. And I see the students that run away from him as soon as they see the mic out.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (12:32.435)
Yeah, yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (12:36.648)
Sure, yeah, Yeah, that's been my experience too, right? Like we do a social challenge every single week and we try to like batch record as much as we can, kind of like you. And almost every week as I like look at the footage after I'm like that kid's always in there, you know? And that's fine, right? Like that's fine for them to want to do it because it's whatever, it's how they connect and how they want to connect. Have you noticed any like...

in-person benefits to what you're doing on social? Like anything that has camaraderie, even just creating conversation because of a certain video or topic or whatever, or the, I don't know, even like the feel and the vibe because you're filming something to go online. Has there been any in-person benefits that you've noticed?

Andrew Ostrander (13:23.16)
Yeah, I think absolutely. think the specific content or question that gets talked about for that day and then after programming a little bit, but then that conversation dies down. And there are a lot of different factors that I think have played into this, but since adding it and rolling it out and how our ministry has adjusted the pre-service time a little bit, students are really excited to be there and excited to interact whether or not it's with a camera in front of them.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (13:27.156)
Mm-hmm.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (13:31.602)
Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (13:45.758)
Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (13:52.794)
Interesting. Yeah.

Andrew Ostrander (13:52.812)
And so there's just been that shift of that vibe of being willing to be open or just hanging out together.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (13:59.88)
That's cool. like that's a really that not even when I started on this whole journey and podcast, whatever, that's not even a thing that was even like on my radar, you know, but I've noticed that too in our in our context. And it's it's really cool to hear that for sure. What would you say like is anything that you're maybe like thinking about for the future? Like this is kind of your current rhythm and iteration. Are you like

content with it and you just want to keep doing this or what if you had the capacity would be something that's maybe on the horizon that you've been thinking about or maybe wanting to do.

Andrew Ostrander (14:38.254)
So there are multiple different things that where I'm wanting to take it. And so I've created a weekly posting schedule that I want to figure out either for the end of the school year or just really gear up to do it next school year. We're redesigning a little bit of our space to better meet our needs. And part of that, I'm really trying to push or find a spot to create a more studio like area so that we could do longer form or like five, 10 minute videos.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (14:43.199)
Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (14:51.518)
Okay.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (14:54.952)
Nice.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (15:02.814)
Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (15:07.401)
Yeah.

Andrew Ostrander (15:07.724)
while the interviews are happening elsewhere. And so there are lots of different places that I'm wanting to take in it, just seeing whether or not any of them are possible.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (15:10.089)
Nice.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (15:15.888)
Yeah, cool. So cool. What do you mind? Like, are you able off top your head or pull it up? Like, what is your proposed posting schedule that you want to aim for, you know, start the next school year?

Andrew Ostrander (15:29.1)
Yeah. So it would just be the weekdays because I know like content limits and I try to set time aside to network. Monday, we want to be doing a message Monday. And so that's just a one, two minute Devo, primarily probably just adults. And then I have a student intern. And so just whatever word is laid on our hearts or minds for that day for Monday, Tuesday would be one of our interview style videos. So that's the ones that we're currently posting most frequently.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (15:33.353)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, it's great.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (15:41.362)
Okay. Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (15:47.689)
Nice.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (15:51.796)
great.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (15:58.463)
Yeah.

Andrew Ostrander (15:58.994)
the Wednesday one would be dependent on having a space to record it, but I want to do like a Wednesday word from a student. there again, pretty similar to Monday minute or two, Devo reading scripture style video Thursday, my intern and I have been recording, what we think are funny videos when we have internships together. And so Thursday would be that type of video right now. We're asking chat GPT to create a video for us and we just.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (16:05.522)
Nice.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (16:09.289)
Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (16:19.072)
You

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (16:23.85)
Yeah.

Andrew Ostrander (16:28.106)
acted out. So those will be Thursday and then Friday. My idea would be for the slightly longer form video like drafts or tier list type things if we have the capability of doing that.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (16:28.927)
Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (16:37.842)
Nice. Nice, cool. Okay, so like last little thing here. What would you say to anybody who was like you, you know, you're not even a year yet into like student ministry and all the demands and all the things that like come with the job are there and you know, have to.

manage it, schedules, manage relationships and personalities, and they just feel overwhelmed by even the thought of social. What would just be your encouragement to other youth pastors out there who are maybe on the fence or not sure if doubling down on creating social content is for them?

Andrew Ostrander (17:18.626)
Yeah, so I think a couple of things come to mind. The first one you kind of touched on, it's a mix of starting small and passing it off. So my church leadership, my bosses are huge on a leader doesn't have to do everything. Like we're to the point where it's better if you're training up other people to do it than doing it yourself. So start small or find someone to do it for you on your big programming nights. But then also find whatever part of social media sounds fun to you.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (17:25.382)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (17:33.119)
Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (17:37.812)
Yeah, it's great. Yeah.

Andrew Ostrander (17:48.288)
start with that. Like I've loved editing so far up to this point because I'm amused by it. And so find whatever part of the process you enjoy and really just start and focus there learning how to do that so that it's more fun for you.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (17:49.151)
Hmm.

Nice.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (17:59.794)
Yeah, yeah, that's so true. Okay, is there anything else about what you do social media-wise that I haven't really asked you, but you're like, this is important, I wanna make sure I share that too.

Andrew Ostrander (18:14.382)
I think we've touched a lot on it. It's been fun. The personal connections that I form through it. So my volunteer that does the Wednesday night, we get to talk and reflect and discuss it a lot. And then my relationship with my intern has taken a huge upswing because of we're just hanging out together and making stupid, fun youth videos together. so like you asked about the in-person effects, even just on

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (18:25.78)
Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (18:29.386)
Sure.

Mm.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (18:39.007)
Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (18:42.654)
Yeah.

Andrew Ostrander (18:43.754)
on my personal and my perspective. It's had a huge impact on relationships that I get to form because of these seemingly what a lot of people would view as pointless or menial impact videos.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (18:46.942)
Hmm. Yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (18:53.64)
Yeah. No, that's really, that's actually really like profound. And I really appreciate you saying that because I do think it's more than just, you know.

satisfying social media algorithms or feeding the beast or you know, that's what I call it. Like you gotta keep feeding the beast. But I like that you're saying like, there's been some, you know, relational equity that kind of comes out of that. And that really is the ultimate goal. Like if you look at the inception of social, like it's social, right? In nature, like that's where it came from. And so if it's not at least, you know, playing a part in that within like the context of your local community, like you might be missing out on it, but it's,

The fact that you're doing it is creating a good vibe and good energy. that's, I think, one of my main goals always in social is not like to go viral on our church account and have a bunch of views and all that stuff. Like really it's to serve our community like best, you know? And then if it goes viral or if it gets a lot of views or whatever, like that's great, but that's like a secondary.

thing that I'm looking for. Primarily it's just like I want to serve the students that God has entrusted to me here and disciple them as best I can through the means and avenues of social. So it's great. Okay, so last thing, people want to know if they want to see what you're doing, they want to see some of the stuff you're doing, where do they go? What can they go follow and go check out online or whatever?

Andrew Ostrander (20:23.042)
Yeah, so right now I'm posting on two separate places, the YouTube channel, Walker's Student Ministries, and then the Instagram, which is either Walker's Student Ministries or Waukee with a Y Student Ministries. I would have to go shuffle check. I'm not sure that was created.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (20:35.936)
We'll link them both down below. We'll get it locked in. So if you're like, I don't know how to WakaRusa, the type text down below will be spelled hopefully correctly and it'll take you where you need to go. Nice. Andrew, anything else before we cut you loose?

Andrew Ostrander (20:47.438)
You

Andrew Ostrander (20:53.646)
I think just obviously with the people that you have or the following you have, it's either of interest to them or could be something that they're already doing. I think it is really just super important to try one. The first video I made lasted me for three weeks because you just had enough to work with from it. And so it feels like huge undertaking. It's not as bad as what I initially went into it expecting.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (21:01.152)
Mm.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (21:05.6)
Mm.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (21:11.838)
Yeah, yeah.

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry (21:16.748)
Yeah, no, that's a really good point. It's a new skill for a lot of people. So it is gonna feel a little bit overwhelming. But like you said, once you kind of get into it, you might learn something like, like editing, like you said, and you'll find a new skill or at least something else that you enjoy. So it's awesome. All right, guys, well, for Andrew, this is Nick. We're signing off and talk to you next time. See ya.

Episode 141: How I Plan Events with Kaylen Adams

Nick Clason — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 05:00:00 -0500

This episode of the Hybrid Ministry Show kicks off the "How I..." playlist with a deep dive into event planning with guest Kaylen Adams, an expert in coordination and logistics. Kaylen shares her step-by-step approach to organizing youth ministry events, covering everything from volunteer recruitment and communication to detailed schedules and contingency planning. Whether you're a youth pastor who struggles with organization or looking to refine your event strategy, this conversation is packed with practical insights to help you run seamless, high-impact events.

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--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 How I Plan Events like a Pro!
01:10 Kaylen, who are you?
05:06 What Lanes did you own?
07:03 How can you help someone think?
08:07 How did you communicate?
11:54 How did you determine call times?
16:30 How do you recruit for an event?
20:05 How many jobs do you give a leader?
21:24 How do you calculate for food?
24:21 What Else?
26:28 What if my church doesn't do all that?
28:34 Keep People's Personalities in Mind

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:25:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
For what is up everybody? Today I am going to introduce you and have you in for a treat, because I am going to be interviewing one of my friends and coworkers, Kaylen Adams, who's fantastic at event planning. This is going to be the start of a new little playlist series on my podcast, and here on YouTube, where I am going to introduce you to some of the people that I know who do things the best in youth ministry and particular lanes.

00:00:25:00 - 00:00:46:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And Kaylen is the queen of event coordination and event management. Not only is she like, really fun and have a really good mind, but she is fantastic at getting volunteers, recruiting them. And when a volunteer comes in just feeling like they know exactly what to do. And you will. If you implement these things, you will look like a rock star.

00:00:46:09 - 00:01:04:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So if you're a typical youth worker who's not very organized, this episode is for you because it will help you and if you think that all hope is lost on you, then this is a great, podcast to send to a volunteer or a high level admin who might step in and help you with some of the logistical things, but you are in for a treat regardless.

00:01:04:10 - 00:01:31:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
With my interview today with my friend and coworker Kaylen Adams. What's up everyone? Here we are. I am with Kaylen Adams. Which yes, you don't even find that on your name on here because that's how that's how new this is. So it is formerly known as Maltais, not hyphenated. Straight up Adams. Which means you just got married and,

00:01:31:08 - 00:01:52:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And you might not know Kaylen, but I know Kaylen. I worked with Kaylen. Worked in the past tense. We are still on staff together, but she has switched departments, so now she's in the kids department. And the reason I ask Kaylen on here is, what was it last weekend? Two weekends ago, we had our high school weekend.

00:01:52:02 - 00:02:14:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And you still worked with me then, and, oh, my gosh, Kaylen crushed it. Like, you guys don't have any idea. And as she was, like, literally crushing every, like, logistical and administrative detail of the weekend, in the back of my mind, I was like, we got to get Kaylen on so I can ask her, how do you plan for these big events?

00:02:14:01 - 00:02:38:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So why don't you give us just kind of a quick overview? Kaylen, first of all, like a 20 or 30 second like synopsis of who you are, how we ended up working together. But then, like, what did you oversee, at these events? Like what particular? Like lanes and areas and avenues. And then I just think what you did is such a helpful tool to many of the youth passers that I've ever seen or worked with. And so I just think this would be helpful to get out, you know, to people. Yeah. Yeah.

00:02:38:10 - 00:03:02:13
Kaylen Adams
So we've started working together because I, I went to college at the University of Wyoming and I got a degree in human resources management and entrepreneurship with minors in hospitality anthropology. There you go. So so that was. Yeah. Yeah. And so I did that.

00:03:02:13 - 00:03:29:13
Kaylen Adams
Fell in love with ministry there. And then around like my senior year, I learned the opportunity to do a residency in Texas, which I hate sweating. So my family was like, I was like, I think because I love Jesus, I don't know. So I applied and I ended up getting hired in January. And so after I graduated, I moved to Texas, and I did a residency at Cross Creek Church and guest services.

00:03:29:15 - 00:03:50:22
Kaylen Adams
But I love that, like ministerial aspect. And I still was kind of doing some of more of that support ministry with it. So needed and very, very special. Big shout out to everybody in support ministries. And so that's when I transitioned into students and I kind of brought a lot of my guest services and undergrad knowledge, which infuse that into what I was doing.

00:03:50:22 - 00:04:08:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And students. Yeah. So then like for the first little bit, I remember you're like, I don't really know exactly what you guys want me to do. And we were like, just keep doing like, I mean, like, you guys don't understand. Like, Kaylen was just she just knew what to do. Like, even if she didn't know what to do, she pretend like she knew what to do.

00:04:08:00 - 00:04:30:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And it seemed like she's known what she she's doing. But it was this last high school weekend where, like, you were pulling out, like, spreadsheets and folders and instructions and, even, like, I remember distinctly I was talking with you about our t shirt order number, and, like, our student registration was, like, lower than anticipated. And you were like, no, we're going to need this many t shirts.

00:04:30:06 - 00:04:50:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I was like, why? And you're like, because of all of our volunteers. And I was like, do you really like, do you really think that? And your confidence, you're like, absolutely. And you were right, by the way. So what like lanes did you let's talk about specifically our high school weekend, which for those of you who don't know the context, it's like a D now without the spending the night element.

00:04:50:22 - 00:05:10:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So it's like two days on campus. Yeah. Like Friday night, Saturday until like 3:00. And so it's probably like our second biggest event next to, like, a thing like summer camp, right? So yeah, in that event, what particularly did you own, like, what were those areas? And I just want to ask you kind of pepper you questions.

00:05:10:02 - 00:05:33:02
Kaylen Adams
Yeah. In that in those arenas. Well so this was we originally had one winter we to middle school and high school. Was it split into middle school night high school. Well for middle school night Darren, the student pastor at Rush Creek pitched and I met my boss, so he. Yeah. So he did a lot of the the directional things for that division.

00:05:33:02 - 00:05:56:21
Kaylen Adams
And then programing. And I took everything else and like, did the logistics of the event planned it all. So by the time high school weekend came around, because I wasn't middle school night, so I didn't play a part at all, which is relevant because when we played high school night, we did a lot of the same stuff. We just like copy and paste a lot of the stuff that worked and made it a little more, for high school and that middle school.

00:05:56:23 - 00:06:20:20
Kaylen Adams
Oh yeah. And then we had known, like, what worked and what didn't. So we're check in by the time we got to high school again. Yeah, that's good. But yeah, by the time we got there, Nick you did programing. So like everything that you were sitting in a session and watching and experiencing. Nick was all in of planning and talking to the people, like worship people and yeah, yeah, I did everything outside of that.

00:06:20:22 - 00:06:44:20
Kaylen Adams
So and how we move through the timelines, you know, when were kids eating, where were they going to be, what activities were they going to be doing. And then we had food making sure we had enough food, making sure. Yeah, we had t shirts. And there they were out and that, you know, we gave away a little like pin to all of our students, like, you made sure that that was where it needed to get and left, you know, passing out our note sheets and pens.

00:06:44:20 - 00:07:08:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And, I mean, you just you thought of like, every detail. So, like, I know your background helps you with that, but like, imagine you're talking to someone who's not as organized as you like. So you come by that naturally, which is what was just like a marvel to behold. But like what? What would you tell someone? Or how would you encourage someone to think if they're like planning something like that?

00:07:08:09 - 00:07:29:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like what? What's the way that you help us get inside your brain for some of the logistics?

Kaylen Adams
Well, when you're planning an event, yes, for a job, for ministry, ever. You write down all of your ideas like, no one is like, I'm just taking this all right here. I will accept it later. It's going to be there like you always write it down.

00:07:29:11 - 00:07:54:20
Kaylen Adams
You make it through for you. And I just thought, you know, would probably be really helpful for a volunteers to see that map. Like, I don't know why I would keep it from them. They should know, like how we got from point A to point B, because by the time we're at point B and we're doing the thing, they deeply understand what they're doing and not only do what I'm telling them to do, they can actually take initiative and do the things that I missed.

00:07:54:22 - 00:08:13:05
Kaylen Adams
Yeah. And so that's a huge part of it is just like, if I were a volunteer, what would I want to know? So I could do my job? Well, I feel good about it. Yeah. So then how how did you go about communicating? Like, did you have a meeting? Did you send them a text? Did you send them an email?

00:08:13:05 - 00:08:31:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like what? Because that's probably, I would imagine, a lot of stuff. And I think again, most youth pastors are like, I don't either have the time or be want to overwhelm my volunteers, or maybe see just another reason I didn't actually write it down. It is all in my head. So, I mean, I would say probably for all of us.

00:08:31:06 - 00:08:55:12
Kaylen Adams
Step one is get it out of your head onto paper somehow. And then two, how did you communicate it? Yeah. So I communicated a couple different ways. So the only time that I was texting volunteers instructions or anything was a, when I was recruiting them. Okay. I never sent them like, all the information they needed individually because I needed them all to be kind of in one part.

00:08:55:12 - 00:09:16:24
Kaylen Adams
So I knew who was getting one information and it always the same. Yeah. If I ever was giving instructions, it was in a group chat or a group of people that had a specialized role. Those came last minute. They weren't actually accounted for. Next time we did an event, I probably would account for them in advance. So I'm not texting information because for the smaller like you're saying, the.

00:09:17:01 - 00:09:51:02
Kaylen Adams
Yeah, the smaller, more specialized groups groupings of people. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I like to create an escape room. We had game masters and we didn't know about that until like pretty close to the event. I probably would have included them into all the mass event communication before that time. Got it as okay. Got it. Yeah. Okay. So and then and then putting together all this information, I'm kind of stockpiling it in a folder called Volunteer Prep, and I'm organizing it by like, this document, they need to know this document.

00:09:51:02 - 00:10:11:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
They need to know if they don't really need to know that, I'll pull it back. What are those documents? Can you give us just a few examples, like pull back the curtain a little bit?

Kaylen Adams
Yeah, yeah. So I'll make a volunteer schedule that's like five position. And then I sang people to that position per day. So it's not by time blocks, it's by day and what they're doing okay.

00:10:11:16 - 00:10:28:21
Kaylen Adams
And then I have a document a volunteer job description. They need to know what they're doing, why they're doing how they do it. Yeah. And then I do a document. If we're doing anything outside or in a weird space, I'll do an aerial map and I'll make, like, different stations and positions of where they're going to be.

00:10:28:23 - 00:10:51:09
Kaylen Adams
I'll give them a service order so they can see just how we do, how the whole day is going to go through. They even see like how different session parts are going to work, like what sounds work. It's going to do all the stuff because they help with transitions, like really help because it's easier to be like, hey, after they do a million little miracles, I need you to come out here rather than at 737.

00:10:51:09 - 00:11:11:20
Kaylen Adams
I need you to. Yeah. The more like more like, big landmarks on a map. Yeah. Once you get this song, then this is your cue to come out and help set up for lunch, like, stuff like that. Yeah, yeah. That's why the service order is so important. And for them to see what's in Planning Center is for that.

00:11:11:20 - 00:11:34:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We updated everything for the whole event kind of revolves around that. And you're doing the same for your volunteers. And so because then I would imagine, correct me if I'm wrong, you're able to be like, hey, if you're in charge of lunch, like, these are your three areas or meals, I guess, like these are your three. So like Friday night dinner, Saturday morning breakfast and, you know, Saturday lunch.

00:11:34:07 - 00:11:56:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like at this time you need to be here for this. Because if we say lunch is at 12, let's say I'm imagining you're having your volunteer get there at 11:15 or 11:30 or something like that. So how do you real quick answer this question for me. How do you determine, what time to to call for them? Like, yeah.

00:11:56:10 - 00:12:18:11
Kaylen Adams
So when it comes to like food stuff because you're dealing with catering and vendors usually like I wouldn't have that start. So we had lunch at like, what was it this year? 12 I think it started and I don't remember the exact time. I just know we had it and it was ready. And that's why you're here. We had food dropped off at like 1115.

00:12:18:16 - 00:12:41:10
Kaylen Adams
Okay. So plenty of time. And most of that was not because I was worried about my volunteers because they knew what to do. And we're not in like the biggest space ever is to account for vendors being late or not knowing where to park and, stuff. Yeah. When it comes to other transitions, they're a lot tighter windows and they're a lot quicker usually it was like the song before something started.

00:12:41:10 - 00:13:04:10
Kaylen Adams
I would send them to go do something, but again, that's also because their space isn't really big and any materials they needed or resources. I set out in a central location, a table in the main space. We all were operating out of the auditorium, and I labeled everything with all the different times that it's going to be needed, and even put under, like during this song, you should take that, this place.

00:13:04:10 - 00:13:25:17
Kaylen Adams
So my volunteers knew to flock to that table when transition times are happening. Yeah, that was so good. So then are you. So you're just labeling those like yeah, color you label like for anything. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. You label like crazy. If you think like oh that'd be really obvious for someone to know it's now you should label.

00:13:25:23 - 00:13:45:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah. That's good. Yeah. Because again, your brain versus reality. Right. Like it makes sense in your brain, our brain as we're planning the events. But it might not make sense to volunteer. Yeah, because they're just dropping in. Right. You know. Yeah. After work. Right. They've been at work all day and their mind is in a million other places.

00:13:45:10 - 00:14:06:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so like, they're, you know, giving up their time and they're willing and they're helpful and all those things. But like I like that. I like what you're saying, like, almost, almost dummy proof it. Right? Not that they're dumb, but, like, make it so simple. Okay. Yeah. Do it. Yeah. Well, my volunteers, they do best when they're confident.

00:14:06:24 - 00:14:24:06
Kaylen Adams
When they're confident, they are empowered to take initiative, make decisions, do something really well when they're not confident in whether or not they're in the right place, holding the right thing, putting it where it should be. Then you have a lot of lag and you have a lot of like question. And that's when things start to like frame fall apart.

00:14:24:09 - 00:14:59:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah. So your job as an event coordinator is just to how can I give my volunteers the most confidence they need in this decision. That's good. Okay. So then anything else on what you tell volunteers? I want to maybe go a different direction if you feel like you've kind of got everything in that lack thing is leading up to the event, you want to send out the longest email of your life, and then is where all of the equipment I talked about keeping in that volunteer folder and you go through, you give an overview and you kind of describe how the event's going, and they need to read those attachments.

00:14:59:24 - 00:15:26:05
Kaylen Adams
I sent it all beforehand because that's our big meeting, and they can refer back to you and have in writing. And then by the time we are at the event, like 30 minutes an hour before the start, that meeting is a refresher or a question. That's not the entire meeting. Yeah, yeah. And then the other thing you did, which I thought was brilliant, was you, taped all those attachments to a wall of one of our leader workrooms.

00:15:26:07 - 00:15:47:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So, yeah, if they didn't want to, you know, fight with their email to find it again, they could just go reference quickly off a printed copy. So again, you don't like you think about your dummy proofing it like, yes, you communicated it in the email. And this is one of the concepts I talk about in communication a lot is like, we live in like a Netflix culture, so people live it with like an on demand mindset.

00:15:47:10 - 00:16:05:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so you sent it on like a Thursday at 3:30 p.m., but like, they were in the middle of like a business meeting. And so it wasn't in their mind then, but it will be in their mind when they show up on Friday at six. But like they've gotten 27 more emails since then and so. Oh yeah, where is that?

00:16:05:03 - 00:16:24:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I think it's brilliant to put it somewhere just quick and accessible and maybe even another hack that we didn't even do or think about, but like maybe even having like a static like landing page or like QR code that they could like scan and pull open, like in a, just a tab in their safari. And then that gives them access to everything, you know, that they need.

00:16:24:23 - 00:16:58:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But yeah, I think that was that was so smart. So then how do you go about, like, help us get in your brain because, you know, you had a couple volunteers there that I was like, oh, like, I wouldn't have thought that they would be here. Not because they did, like a bad job or they're just they weren't like as maybe like involved or like, maybe they're only serving like once a month or once every other, week, like in our student ministry and like, you had the, like, in charge of, like, food or like certain like, you know, snack type areas, like, how did you go through and think, who am

00:16:58:15 - 00:17:16:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I going to recruit? Because I thought that was one of the other really special things was like, you asked a very particular or like, dedicated ask for like just very, again, very specific volunteers. You didn't I didn't feel like you did like an all call, though. You maybe you did to kind of pick up anyone who might be interested.

00:17:16:22 - 00:17:39:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But then I think you went particularly after, like certain names or certain individuals. How did you how did you like, think about them to, to ask them and like what goes into you? You know, determining this person would be good for that. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. Well, you definitely do an all call because, well, we are desperate for people to help.

00:17:39:13 - 00:18:06:02
Kaylen Adams
We're not gonna act like or not, but, honestly, I just kind of go with a philosophy of I'll never say no for somebody like, you know, I think sometimes we do that even if we say that we're not like, well, they only serve on Sundays and they're very particular about their job. And I'm like, yes. But they also probably like high school is I don't know, maybe the chances are, and so I just kind of like we always have conversations for like, oh, that person would be like, so good at this.

00:18:06:02 - 00:18:27:03
Kaylen Adams
Or if only they do it. And I usually take that person and then ask, yeah, like I make a list of all. Yeah. As I am planning events and I just keep people's personalities in mind like I, we see them work all Sunday and we see them work Wednesday. And you kind of see like what things kind of light them up and what things they're like, oh can I do anything else but that.

00:18:27:07 - 00:18:42:18
Kaylen Adams
Yeah. And so I just kind of catalog that and that way. And I do kind of mentally. But it wouldn't hurt to like make a list of people like I love reaching out to this person for this. This is this. And I've noticed that they've done events. We have volunteers that really get fired up for events like that.

00:18:42:18 - 00:19:02:24
Kaylen Adams
Just being a part of a big beast of a programing thing, like kind of lights them up and exciting. And so I have people that I regularly reach out with, like Kyra Allen Love. She's one of our checking people. I remember when I came in, she was on like some sort of kind of understanding that she was only going to volunteer a couple times because she had some things going on.

00:19:02:24 - 00:19:26:20
Kaylen Adams
And I just remember, like, she was so stoked to do this back to school bash experience. That was like a Wednesday night special because, like, I definitely would love to do events and she's been my event checking person every single time I day. Yeah, yeah that's good. Yeah. She loves it. So you have like a you're very in tune to to them like just ongoing right.

00:19:26:20 - 00:19:44:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like you're keeping an eye as you're doing your job. And so that makes it easier obviously. Then when you go to to think and yeah I like that it is not creepy but it is. No. Yeah. But I think that's part of the that again I when I saw some of those people that was like interesting but also awesome and like that was all kudos to you right.

00:19:44:20 - 00:20:01:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like I'll kudos you because like I wouldn't have thought to ask that person. Like I would have thrown a link in our leader group chat. Hey, you know, want to volunteer? They did it. And now I'm desperate, you know? And, so yeah, I was we were more than fully staffed, you know, for. Yeah. And so that was the other thing.

00:20:01:11 - 00:20:20:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like how, like how many jobs do you try to give a leader? Like how many are you trying to, like, let people do double duty? Or like, hey, you're in charge of like, food and like, that's your job the whole weekend. Like, how do you make those decisions?

Kaylen Adams
Yeah, some of our jobs, like, they feel very crucial and important because they are.

00:20:20:13 - 00:20:40:05
Kaylen Adams
But they're not crucial. Important in that they happen the entire time of the program. Like right there. Yeah. There are a window a very important window. But then and. Yeah, and you have to remember, when you're dealing with these volunteers, they're adults with full time jobs are like at the leaders, if they're they're at your event, they are high capacity.

00:20:40:07 - 00:21:01:24
Kaylen Adams
They don't do well, bored or sitting and doing nothing. They want to do something. And if they're doing something that morale is high and they'll probably do another event because they're like, that was awesome though. So yeah, it's good. Yeah. So I assign generally like 2 or 3 roles throughout the service order to people. So they're like constantly transitioning and moving to do so.

00:21:02:01 - 00:21:22:02
Kaylen Adams
Yeah. And that comes back to your like schedule your map. And you're like you're thinking that ahead. Like okay. Do they after this window closes they can go to this, but then they maybe can't do this next thing because they're going to be busy doing that. Like, again, that's the next level stuff, Kaylen, that you're like, you're very good at.

00:21:22:02 - 00:21:44:02
Kaylen Adams
So, okay, so then, let's talk a little bit about like, food. Okay. How do you determine, how much to order? Like, is it just as simple as, like, as many as there are registered. How do you account for, like, walk ins at an event like this where we do leave registration open all the way up until you know, it starts.

00:21:44:02 - 00:22:05:20
Kaylen Adams
And so theoretically, a kid could walk in and do you have enough food for them, like how do you how do you kind of try and manage that or think about that? Yeah. It all it does depend on how, big of an invite event. This is like I think high school weekend was an invite like, but we didn't like push super hard and say like my friends going for it.

00:22:05:22 - 00:22:25:12
Kaylen Adams
Yeah, yeah. So always keep that in mind. Yes. You keep the registration number, but you also want to account for all of the adults in the building. Don't forget yourself or your staff then volunteers. And if you're providing food for tech and worship or if they're doing their own thing so that all is in that number. Yeah.

00:22:25:14 - 00:22:49:00
Kaylen Adams
But registration, I just kind of. I don't want to have too big of a margin because then we're spending a lot of money on food. But things that I can give out is like door prizes, like pizza. I'm a little more willing to have extra of because we could have done or do to make their night, but like, same with, you know, because no one wants like a cold, soggy sandwich by the end of like 12 of them.

00:22:49:06 - 00:23:10:08
Kaylen Adams
Yeah. So I would be a little bit more tight on food like that. And also keep in mind that everyone's like, kids are so hungry they're going to eat three slices of pizza. You keep in mind the girls, because girls don't eat as much food as boys. And, like, I definitely like they're just there's camping retreat food.

00:23:10:08 - 00:23:32:14
Kaylen Adams
That is great because you're hungry, but it's not a lot of kids. First choice. Really like one of it. Yeah, they'll like maybe one and a half will split with a friend. Yeah. So just keep that in mind. Like the ratio is not as monstrous as you think. Yeah, I think the ratio I've tried to use for pizza is, two and a half times your number.

00:23:32:14 - 00:23:51:06
Kaylen Adams
So, like, think you're big number of all the people including tech and worship and check in and staff and everyone. And then you multiply it by two and a half. That'll give you the total number of slices that you need. And then you can divide that by eight, because that's how many slices of pizza are in, your pizza box.

00:23:51:06 - 00:24:06:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then that'll give you a number with a decimal. And you can either round up around whatever you, you know, feel. And what's really nice is like, you know, you do the random picker thing, like, with their name. And for those who don't know, you picked the names and then they just get a random prize for doing nothing.

00:24:06:03 - 00:24:22:03
Kaylen Adams
Yeah, that great. Pick that food leftovers too, because you don't want to bank on having extra if you're just kind of guessing because kids might be really hungry and you don't have it, and then you just lost a prize for a game. Yeah. So you want that to be like a random moment that if they don't get it, they have no idea.

00:24:22:05 - 00:24:48:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's good. All right. Let's see what else. What else do you what else do you think about for an event that I'm not thinking even to, like, ask you? Listen, you have to know if your church has any sort of, like, admin team, administrative volunteers that help put these things together with your operations at all, like your facilities and your finance people or whatever it might be.

00:24:48:04 - 00:25:09:00
Kaylen Adams
You need to meet with them, like way ahead of time. So I see way ahead of time. Yeah. So I start meeting with people. We've been cutting it kind of close and cutting it close to meeting two months in advance. Okay. So you need to some of us that might be like, oh, that's when I start thinking about it.

00:25:09:02 - 00:25:34:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah. No. Especially if it's like a really big event. Which high school weekend is a really big event for us? We need to start planning that month in advance. And depending on, like, the capacity of your team, that could fluctuate a little bit. Like if it's just you and one other person, I would say probably start looking at that at like six months and having if you have a couple other people who can share that, you could maybe do a little bit less.

00:25:34:19 - 00:25:59:21
Kaylen Adams
But you definitely need to start meeting with administrative people on your church staff that are handling this, because their personalities are a lot different than yours. As a ministry person, you're used to pivoting and being creative and all the things and pulling it off at the last minute. Yeah, they are not. They love systems and processes and if you break their system, it's going to be really, really hard to get them to like be on the same wavelength with you.

00:26:00:01 - 00:26:22:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Good. Yeah, yeah. And like in our particular, you know, setting, we have like our facilities people like they set everything up for us, which is fantastic. But to your point, like, only if we're on top of it, if we slide in in the ninth hour and we're like, this is what we want, they're like, yo, we're already on to like, stuff for like later, next weekend.

00:26:22:11 - 00:26:43:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like we've already, you know, planned our day. So, you know, to her point like, and whether you know so like, here's the thing I do know if like you're listening, you're like, okay, I don't work at a church anywhere near that. Has any of that. Like, I am the operations, I am the admin. And what I would say is, lean into your volunteers if you're like that sounds fantastic.

00:26:43:23 - 00:27:15:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I would love that. But I don't have anyone that works for me with me on my team. Anything like that like that doesn't mean you can't do it, and it doesn't mean you still can't delegate and dish out. You just may have to do that more of like a volunteer capacity. So find a mother. Or like someone who, like, works in like an administrative like role that has a little bit of, bandwidth and margin and like, ask them, you know, like, I'm sure if I'm saying that many of you right now, as you're listening, you're like, oh, yeah, I could probably ask so and so, like that person's come into your mind like, let

00:27:15:12 - 00:27:33:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
that person be your Kaylen for your event. And like, yes, we had the luxury of like Kaylen being on our team payroll, but like, you know, it doesn't it doesn't, they don't have to be right. And like. Yeah, setting up you can. I mean, we employ teenagers, like, students to, like, come early and do stuff like that.

00:27:33:00 - 00:28:00:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And, you know, we call them what we call them. Simps. Yet SMPs student is tone texting is for like, student oh my gosh. Okay. Do not disturb do that anyway. Ministry student minutes protege. Protege. Yeah yeah yeah. Protege. Yeah. And so anyway, we employ them, they, get free camp, and stuff like that, but they come early in, like, sets, set things up.

00:28:00:12 - 00:28:25:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So, like, they can be like facilities team. So again, as we're saying it like, don't don't be like I had never be there like you for sure can like employ volunteers and people that'll do it for free. And they like to to Kaylen's point. Yeah they do. That might not be your gifting. And you're like, no one would ever want to run administrative or set chairs up like some people genuinely do.

00:28:25:02 - 00:28:47:19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so don't rob other people of being able to serve your youth ministry, God's kingdom, whatever. By not asking them. What else Kaylen. Anything else or do we hit it all. I just would in mind people's personalities. You're going to have people who, when they're planning events, they just run just like that's just their personality and that's how they work best.

00:28:47:19 - 00:29:06:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so they're going to ask a lot of questions and they're going to want to meet with you last minute and their vibe might kind of like make you kind of thrown off because you're like, I thought we had all this plan. Why do you need to meet and double check? They've probably done a great job. They just want to make sure that they've done everything you need to help you.

00:29:06:14 - 00:29:25:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so if you have someone in your life who's like that, just remember, like, just have your questions kind of written out of what you know, that they text and have those input ready for them. And that's going to help those meetings a lot quicker. I had a at one churches I worked at, I had a volunteer like that.

00:29:25:20 - 00:29:47:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Her name was Sarah. And the way that I would think logistically when I was planning things because, like, I was a one man band, we had a church secretary 20 hours a week that served the entire church. Right. So, like, I could get some stuff, you know, to for her to do for the youth ministry, but not like she wasn't like, there to, like at my beck and call for everything.

00:29:48:00 - 00:30:12:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so as I was like dishing things off to volunteers and whatnot, like my, my filter in my head was always like, what would Sarah want to know? Right? It's I think that's a good like a good way to think about it is like, think about the volunteer who has the most questions for you. And then ask the question like, would the amount of information that I'm sending up, would it satisfy that person?

00:30:12:16 - 00:30:37:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And if yes, then you're on the right track. If not, then you probably need more detail. So yeah. Yeah, I love that. Cool. Kaylen, is that it? Do we hit it? Yeah. There's our all events for future and for always going to be planned, do you think? I think I think so well, yeah probably. All right. Well hey, this was how I plan events with Kaylen.

00:30:37:14 - 00:30:57:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Not Morty's Kaylen Adams. And, she's awesome. So, Kaylen, I mean, like, can people, like, follow you, like, on social media or anything if they want to? Yeah. Yeah. Where, where where can they find you? It's funny. I have to, like, go double check. Well, I can't fake my name. Oh, wait. What is it? Now that I just had to change my social media handles?

00:30:57:18 - 00:31:22:13
Kaylen Adams
Because I just got mail? I know well, and Instagram is actually really hard to change your last name on, so it hasn't been changed yet. My handle, but my name on there stage so you can find me at K Maltese Underscore on Instagram. It's cmake lta s underscore on Instagram Facebook Palin Adams look me up. I think that's all in I'm on because I'm old and TikTok that's okay.

00:31:22:17 - 00:31:32:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's banned anyway. So actually it's back. I don't know if you heard but oh all right people. Well I'm signing off for Kayla and this is Nick. Talk to you next time. Stay hybrid guys.

Episode 131: Secrets Revealed for Middle School Phone Usage

Nick Clason — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 04:00:00 -0600

✏️Collaborative Worksheet
https://share.hsforms.com/1t_3g3O3XTBqI-vq1Orq7ngnumis

🎧 Ronald's Podcast
https://podcast.downloadyouthministry.com/category/middle-school-ministry/

DESCRIPTION
In this conversation, Nick Clason and Ronald Long discuss the challenges and opportunities of youth ministry in the digital age, particularly focusing on the role of technology and cell phones among middle schoolers. They explore the importance of engagement in content creation, the necessity of guidelines for responsible phone use, and the balance between digital and in-person ministry. The discussion emphasizes the need for open conversations between parents and children regarding technology, as well as collaborative resources for youth pastors to navigate these challenges effectively.

📓 SHOWNOTES
http://www.hybridministry.xyz/131

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https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry

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⌚TIMECODES
00:00 The Role of Technology in Middle School Ministry
04:50 Guidelines for Responsible Cell Phone Use
09:50 Balancing Digital and In-Person Youth Ministry
14:53 Encouraging Healthy Conversations About Technology
20:01 Collaborative Resources for Youth Pastors

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:00)
What's up everybody? I'm Nick and this is.

Ronald (00:04)
Hey guys, I'm Ronald Long. How you doing?

Nick Clason (00:06)
We're excited to be here, Ronald. This is a weird thing. This is your show, this is my show, this is our show.

Ronald (00:08)
we are excited to be here.

Whose show is it really? That's a question.

Nick Clason (00:15)
That is the question that people want to know the answer to.

Ronald (00:19)
Did I just take over hybrid youth ministry? I think I did. I did. great. This is mine now. And yours? You get middle school ministry. Yeah, this is it. Tell Andrea. no.

Nick Clason (00:23)
You did, you did. Yeah. Welcome. Well, actually, yeah, and I'm taking over middle school. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you have exactly. Bye, Andrea. Bye. Anyway, you know, Ronald, it's interesting and I'm excited to have this conversation because probably the biggest, one of the biggest pushbacks I get when I'm pushing stuff like in my hybrid ministry, just idea and whatnot is what about middle schoolers?

especially like in our context, we don't get middle schoolers until like, or we get them at sixth grade, which there's an inflection point. And depending on the conservative nature of your church, there could be a lot of those students that have cell phones. And then a lot of students that don't, you know? And so like my main thing with hybrid ministry is trying to intersect people where they are. And I think the cell phone is just a great spot to try and aim for. Right. But what about those middle schoolers that are young and like don't have cell phones? And so.

Ronald (00:57)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Nick Clason (01:21)
I'm excited to have this conversation with you because you as a lifelong middle school youth pastor and host of podcasts, like you and a dad of daughters in that age age range, right? Like I want to hear your perspective because I'm it feels to me and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but it feels to me like middle schoolers kind of run the gamut. Some that don't even have access to any technology and then some that are just all in way too much. You're a little scared for their well-being, you know.

Ronald (01:29)
EW.

Yeah.

Absolutely, and you're right because their parents also run the gambit too. So for people listening who don't know, I have in my house four teenage daughters. I have 18 year old senior graduating this year, then I have a freshman, a seventh grader, and a fifth grader. So I've got everybody.

Nick Clason (01:54)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, you're right there.

Ronald (02:15)
And my elementary school kid who's in fifth grade, Ruth is telling me about like her friends who have cell phones and have had cell phones since like third and fourth grade. Like that's just been their reality. They have always had a phone. Think of the iPad kid who just like parents are like, yeah, whatever here, right? Here's just the next step up. Go ahead and have a phone. Don't care. Put whatever on it. And then like,

Nick Clason (02:42)
So

Ronald (02:45)
me and my family, this has become our rule, it was our rule with our first, you get your cell phone at the end of fifth grade. And so, and we'll talk a little bit more about this too because I have really appreciated what other parents like told me and helped me figure out. That cell phone only can do a couple things, right? And we stair-step eventually through it.

Nick Clason (02:54)
Okay.

Hmm. So as we like lean into this, first of all, everyone should know, no matter where you're listening, hit the link down below, because Ronald and I put together kind of like a collaborative hybrid ministry for middle schoolers kind of resource. So take it, download it, use it, share it with your parents, whatever you want to do. But especially like here we are post-Christmas, and isn't it so true that most middle schoolers

Ronald (03:30)
Use it.

Nick Clason (03:41)
there's a lot of technology that's given under the tree. And so this is just a very timely conversation, right? Like let's talk about technology use and middle schoolers. give us, like, why you start there where you did a little bit, like dive a little deeper into that. Fifth grader, that's your rule. Is that your recommendation? Do you take it, would you recommend parents take that on more of a case by case type basis? What's the wisdom principle in that, or is it?

Ronald (03:44)
100%.

yeah.

Nick Clason (04:08)
you know, hard and fast, like, yeah, as soon as they're done with fifth grade, they're mature enough to have a cell phone or like, what's your, how do you make that decision? I guess, or how would you coach parents to make that decision?

Ronald (04:17)
So what we went through and what was kind of like the deciding factor for us is, I live in San Antonio and so we have, once my kid was finished with elementary school, our oldest, she had friends who were splitting up into like the four winds, right? And we wanted to give her a way to stay connected to them and so we were like, okay, we're going to give you a phone, but.

Nick Clason (04:36)
Mm.

Yeah.

Ronald (04:46)
Big stipulations. We had it, it's an iPhone, so we locked it down pretty tight to where she couldn't download any apps without requesting permission, so that's a big deal. There's no browser on it. So in fact, my high schooler just got a browser this year for ninth grade. to put that in, yeah, no browser.

Nick Clason (04:51)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Okay, so that's like all of middle school. Yeah.

Ronald (05:16)
Specifically also, no social media. She actually also just got her first social media, which was Pinterest. you, stair steppin' man. That's a stair step. But that, okay, here's what I tell parents, and here's what I have told parents and what I am taking through. Imagine a cell phone like a car, right? You are, even for the visual.

Nick Clason (05:25)
Okay. Which, does that even count? know, like that's one of those fringe ones.

For sure.

Mm-hmm.

Ronald (05:46)
You're giving keys away to your kid. for the audio too. on. There we go. Little foley. Little foley for our audio listeners. You don't just give the Ferrari away to a 16 year old or a 15 year old and say, right, go figure that out. guess you know more about this than I do. Like, no, no.

Nick Clason (05:46)
There you go.

Those are car keys, people. Ronald's jingling them. We'll narrate this.

Yeah.

Ronald (06:15)
you start that kid backing in and out of your driveway in the beater, right? And so we took that principle and applied it to our kids having cell phones. So like, okay, you're going to get like a not great iPhones, not the brand new one. It's going to be like, the one with the one camera. Yeah. The one camera type deal. And we're going to stair step you through this. Well, that's just an Android, Nick. That's what you.

Nick Clason (06:30)
Mm-hmm. me down. Yeah.

Maybe some crack screens like my Android here.

The glass is apparently weaker.

Ronald (06:45)
That's fine. No, and so we've stair-stepped. so my seventh grader who has a phone, also has a phone in middle school, has a phone but doesn't have, again, social media doesn't have a browser. And we also put like a stipulation on where the phone can go. My girls, I live in a two-story house. All the bedrooms are upstairs. No phones upstairs. Like that's a rule for us. And so when ...

Nick Clason (07:11)
Great rule, by the way. I approve. Yeah.

Ronald (07:14)
When it's time to go to bed, the charger's downstairs and they have to charge their phone downstairs. No phones at the dinner table. In fact, even it's no phones after dinner. So we say, hey, get it done after dinner, no phones. Those are just like things that we have done as a family to be like, hey, here's the deal. We are going to give you permission that expands with responsibility. And then also cool thing as a parent, my kids don't have a cell phone after supper.

Nick Clason (07:18)
Yeah, good.

Mmm. It's good. It's good.

Mm-hmm.

Ronald (07:44)
So if I'm just scrolling on my cell phone after supper, they're like, hey dad, what are you doing? I'm like, yeah, you're right. I need to be off my phone. I need to pay attention to you.

Nick Clason (07:46)
They're calling you out.

That's so smart. That's just like built in accountability right there, for sure. Yeah. And you know, the thing that I, I try and tell parents as well in our context and other youth ministry avenues and whatever, honestly, just like a lot of times the question is what product or what resource do you use to like monitor like your kids screen usage and all those types of things. And rest assured, there are a million different like resources and things out there that you can use and you can lean into.

Ronald (07:57)
It's huge.

Absolutely.

Nick Clason (08:22)
But at the end of the day, the goal is for that thing not to become your kid's parent. The goal is for you to be the parent of it. Right. And so I love your rules because those guidelines are things that you've put in place. Like you can lock down an iPhone all you want, but you can still abuse it if it's in the room and they're on it until way after bedtime or you know, the no, no phones after dinner thing. Like there can be indiscriminate use or just like mindless use of it. And so.

Ronald (08:50)
Mm-hmm.

Nick Clason (08:51)
You're being proactive and in on top of it, you know, and that's, that's what I really like and appreciate because that's the tech. There's always a workaround in the technology. That's what I've found. Like there's no foolproof piece of technology. It's always a work.

Ronald (09:02)
Heck yeah.

No, I figured it out when I was dealing dial-up modem internet and my parents had the protective things when I was in high school. like, I can figure this out, you know? So no amount of blocking software or things like that will get around actual discipleship of your kids. Because you are a person who is imperfect, just like your kids. They're gonna make mistakes. So what do do?

Nick Clason (09:10)
Yeah.

Exactly. Yeah.

Yeah, for sure.

That's it. That's it. That's good. That's good. Let's shift gears a little bit then. Let's talk about your, how you've noticed technology, cell phones, whatever, within actual confines of youth ministry. Not just, you you parenting your kids with it, but like, what's it like navigating? Cause in a lot of cases, like we said, you got kids that don't even have it at all versus kids who are like using and fully on like all the social apps. So.

Ronald (09:36)
Like, how do you figure that out? Big deal.

Yeah.

Nick Clason (10:03)
What was your typical practice as a middle school pastor with technology?

Ronald (10:10)
Yeah, of it was just being open about that being a potential barrier between you and other people. And the other thing was not, because I was in a real conservative context, there was almost like some judgment to kids who did have a phone, which was really funny. And so I had to like stamp, yeah, I'm glad you get it. So.

Nick Clason (10:28)
Mm

Yeah, same here by the way, so I can relate to that.

Ronald (10:39)
On the one hand, whenever I had a parent being like, you know what, my kid just say that they don't connect very, they don't have any friends in youth ministry. And I'm looking at their kid, I so remember this one specific instance of girl, phone here, face down, and even her hair like covered the side of her face to where all it was, and she was in a corner on her phone looking down at it and not engaging with the room.

Nick Clason (10:59)
Yeah.

Ronald (11:07)
And then like I got a email three weeks later being like, my daughter is just not making any friends. I'm like, yeah, no joke. I've tried. And so trying to have a conversation with students where it's both not being judgmental, but also making sure they're aware of like, hey guys, if you feel lonely, one of the reasons in a list might be you're on your phone too much and you're missing what's going on right in front of you.

Nick Clason (11:13)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Ronald (11:36)
you care more about your online persona or the next funny video than you do your friend who's literally sitting three feet away from you. so trying to navigate that well was always the thing. And so that would just be like application. But on the other hand, you can do that in really great ways to be like, Hey guys, if you've got a phone, text a friend verse right now, someone who's not in this room, text an encouraging verse.

Nick Clason (11:52)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Ronald (12:03)
so that you can be a light in their life, right? It's both and, right? So I don't like telling a kid, hey, cell phones are the devil, you should never have one. And I don't like telling parents, just give your kid a phone and don't worry about it, because it's absolutely both and.

Nick Clason (12:08)
Yeah. Yeah.

Right.

Yeah, yeah. Well, and that's honestly, that's exactly like what I feel like my entire podcast is predicated on. what this started out of, I don't know, I guess like a moment of frustration and a little bit of like an inflection point. like we'd gone pretty hard in on like digital ministry during COVID. I was working in Chicago and so it was necessitated, like it had to happen.

But then we found some really fun and cool wins out of doing ministry in a digital sort of context and some opportunities that actually opened up for us that weren't available to us doing ministry pre-COVID. And so as we were all sort of coming back from, you know, restrictions and lockdown and all those types of things, we were then trying to navigate this like tension between like how much should we swing the pendulum, right? And so my whole, like my whole thing, like the whole name of this like hybrid ministry is like,

Ronald (13:08)
Yeah.

Nick Clason (13:13)
It's not just your digital, but it's not just your in-person. It's kind of that both and, and I think in all of life, it's easier for us. We like to draw hard and hard and fast lines and be like, cell phones are bad. So you should not, but I like your, you know, your Ferrari example because you have to work, you have to work up to it. You don't just earn it immediately. And so like my contention is as much as we, especially older generations want to lament cell phones and how difficult they are for

ministry and connection and they are like in some cases they definitely are, but like there's also a lot of good, you know, that comes out of them. your friend a verse or group chats. Like group chats are such a simple thing that didn't exist. Was it 10 years ago? 15 years ago? Like even if you have people with Android, like group chats are still a way to stay connected, you know, to one another. but you know, so like that's, that's kind of like my contention is like

Ronald (13:54)
Mm-hmm.

No, you can't connect with people with Androids over group chat. It doesn't happen.

Nick Clason (14:11)
we have to help students navigate this well and not just settle for the easy answer of just throw your cell phone in a river. It's terrible and it's the enemy. And if we think that, then why are we getting our kids these things for Christmas? It's like, I just need to call them at practice. Okay, but now you've opened Pandora's box and that's not necessarily a bad thing, not condemning any parent for doing that. I'm just saying now we have to help them navigate that well, both at the parent level and also while we're like...

Ronald (14:20)
Yeah. Yeah.

Absolutely.

Nick Clason (14:40)
navigating and managing that within like our student ministries.

Ronald (14:44)
Sure, and it's just as important as showing your kid what you version can do and be like, hey, you know what's really cool about you version? It's a Bible reading plan. Let's you and me do it together, parent and kid. Or, hey, as a ministry, we're gonna do this month long Bible reading plan. That's on your phone. Yeah, it's absolutely being able to use the tools that are available to us, because we could have said the same thing about lamenting the invention of the car, taking away our, aw man, we're not as

Nick Clason (14:50)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Course privileges.

Ronald (15:14)
connected. So yeah, and since this is the middle school ministry podcast too, it matters to a middle school student what you model to them. Because they take that to heart. so my whole thing was not trying to judge those who had a cell phone. But yeah, absolutely. If they're going to be on YouTube,

Nick Clason (15:22)
Mm-hmm.

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Ronald (15:44)
watching you know Mr. Beast do whatever Mr. Beast does then I kind of also want them to hear from their youth pastor every now and then and so that's an easy thing to do like you pastor to take your phone spend five minutes making five reels and then or five shorts for YouTube and be like hey look my kids are gonna get some encouragement for me this week that's it's out there

Nick Clason (15:51)
Why not? Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I absolutely. And one thing I've noticed and I've seen in like studies and stuff here recently is like, you know, Gen X boomers even have all sort of like settled in on Facebook millennials. Are you millennial, Ronald? Yeah. All right. Me too. Me too. Instagram, right? It's kind of like millennials favorite platform. Gen Z sort of like made tick tock its thing. We're noticing

Ronald (16:22)
yes, and how dare you.

Mm-hmm.

Nick Clason (16:34)
Jen Alpha's making YouTube kind of their spot. And I, yeah. And I even read that it, for Jen Alpha, it's taking the place of Google as its preferred search engine. And so what an opportunity for us like to be on there, you know, and for middle school kids to see us, to see their youth pastor, to maybe even see themselves or their friends from youth group. You know, if you post shorts, reels, all that type of stuff on there, like

Ronald (16:36)
Yeah, it is YouTube.

Absolutely.

Nick Clason (17:01)
You're so right. Like it's such a fantastic opportunity. it really, just exactly what my whole goal with hybrid is like showing up where they are. Like if they're on YouTube, how cool is it? Like they can get on there and they can watch MrBeast who's all across the country and also their church.

Ronald (17:17)
Well, and to even use the platform like it's currently being used then, how cool would it be if your kid typed in how to study the Bible and they got an answer from their youth pastor immediately? Like you already had a five minute video on how to study the Bible that you had prepared for your kids and it was there, right? Because that's how they're using the platform.

Nick Clason (17:30)
Right? Yeah. Exactly.

Exactly. Yeah, it's not just like, it's not just there for you as a youth pastor to have another channel for announcements, though you can be, but I would, what I encourage people to do is use the platforms for their intended uses. And so if you're going to use it for a thing that you think is what your ministry needs, but it's not in alignment with the intended use of the platform, you're not going to see the same types of results than if you actually use it for what it's being used for, which is answering specific questions.

Ronald (17:46)
Mm-hmm.

Yep. Yep.

Nick Clason (18:09)
And frankly, entertainment, right? And maybe like a little bit of inspiration too. So that's good. So what would you say to a middle school youth pastor or any youth pastor out there, like who's got people in their church like you and like me who are a little leery about cell phone, cell phone usage, middle school. Like what's the, how would you coach them, you know, to either lean in and have that conversation or.

Ronald (18:26)
Mm-hmm.

Nick Clason (18:38)
with parents or how to like manage maybe some of that potential like turbulent waters of, you know, angry parents who think cell phones are evil and of the devil.

Ronald (18:48)
You know what's funny is when I first started in ministry, there was a big deal where we said, don't bring any cell phones to camp. And then there was a really turbulent season in between when we arrived to my kid as a parent saying, my kid will bring their phone to camp or they're not going.

Nick Clason (18:58)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

yeah.

Ronald (19:18)
And so navigating that in between, I think there are far fewer parents who are going to say that a cell phone is evil. They might be saying, my kid has to have one because I need to be connected and know what's up with my kid at all times.

Nick Clason (19:27)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Ronald (19:35)
which is a different type of unhealth, that's fine. We can go from there. To help a youth pastor navigate the cell phones. Cell phones are bad, right? A cell phone is the same, to use the car analogy. It's a tool. can take you someplace great. It can take you someplace awful. And if you want to be the youth pastor who's like, no cell phones in the youth room. They go in this box over here and we use paper Bible still. Like that's fine.

Nick Clason (19:45)
Yeah.

Yeah, you can do that. Yeah, yeah.

Ronald (20:04)
if you explain that, right? As long as you're saying, why we do this as a ministry, this is the vision, this is what we're trying to accomplish. Do that, but you're going to have parents who, when you go to camp, when you go to retreat, they're gonna push back on you and be like, hey, my kid is going to take their cell phone. I don't care what their rules are.

Nick Clason (20:28)
Yeah. Well, like when did you get a cell phone? Like how old were you when you got a cell phone? Yeah.

Ronald (20:31)
I was 16 and I got a cell phone because my parents were afraid that I was going to get lost when I started driving by myself. So I got my dad's secretary's old Nokia phone.

Nick Clason (20:45)
But so you're 16, right? And now you're the type of parent in that particular age bracket and demographic, you're sending your daughter's kids to camp. like that's all, know, cell phones from the age of 16 for you and on up. Like I was about the same, you know, so here in a couple of years when my kids are old enough to go to camp, I only, that's my like comfort zone, you know? And so like I get their scary stuff on it, but

Ronald (20:56)
Yeah. Yeah.

Nick Clason (21:14)
It's also gonna, it's not, you're not never gonna give your kid a cell phone. So how do we, and that's my thing, how do we help lean in and teach them the good things of it? Put good, good rules and guidelines and guardrails all around it so that you're hopefully protecting your kids and having conversations, you know, with it.

Ronald (21:25)
Yeah.

It's exactly that. It's continued conversations with kids. And even as a parent being okay to say, these are our non-cell phone times to where we're going to talk. I know parents who like to say no phones in the car because that 15 minute, 20 minute drive can be like, hey, we can actually have a conversation as we drive around. But just having conversations about your phone usage. Hey, who are you following? Hey.

Nick Clason (21:35)
That's it, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, so true.

Mm-hmm.

Ronald (22:00)
I or even telling like I will do this with my girls. I'll send them goofy videos and goofy memes Not because I think they're the funniest thing in the world But I'm trying to connect with them on their level like to my own kids and so like It's funny because they don't have social media what I'm doing is screen recording a funny reel I saw and then sending that to them as a message

Nick Clason (22:09)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah dude. Yeah, for sure.

Bro, that's so committed, but I love it. Like that's, you you're like, we're not doing the social media thing, but I still want you to see this thing that I saw on social media and it's funny. So you'll like it. It's great.

Ronald (22:34)
Yeah, and I want you to know that I'm thinking of you throughout the day. I want you to laugh. This is a funny thing. And yeah, phones aren't the devil. Yeah, so it's trying to continually have a conversation with your kid. And even where you're saying, hopefully they're coming to you and being like, my friend is being dumb in the group chat. They go, okay, what did they say? Talking through what's good to text, what's not good to text, how...

Nick Clason (22:43)
That's great,

Ronald (23:02)
inflection matters and be like, Hey, I know you hate it, but this might be a FaceTime moment because it sounds like you guys are not seeing each other texting back and forth. Maybe you need to like actually talk.

Nick Clason (23:12)
Yeah. Yeah, man, that's so good. Well, anything else, Ronald, before we hang this sucker up?

Ronald (23:19)
I think the most important thing a parent can do with their kid and having a phone is have some guidelines and have lots of conversations. I think if you stick into those two places, like you're gonna be in a spot where maybe sometimes it's uncomfortable, maybe it's sometimes you're giving a little bit more, you're giving more unearned responsibility away than you're ready for, but like that's parenting as a whole. You don't want your 18 year old kid.

to get a cell phone and all social media all at once and be like, well, now I'm gonna learn everything. It's much, I think it's a much better experience for you and the kid if you walk them through the process together with you in the driver's seat sometimes and them in the driver's seat sometimes.

Nick Clason (24:04)
That's good. Yeah, actually, if anyone's listening to this, watching this like here live, like in the next several weeks, like that's what I'm doing on my podcast is I'm doing like some parent and kid kind of like tech talks. And so they're like aimed for youth pastors to like curate or have that conversation with like some downloadable worksheets and stuff like that that they can share. because I think that's, that's the key in all of this. Like it's, it's easier to draw a line in the sand and be like, no, this, like this is it. We're not doing that, but like we,

Ronald (24:16)
Mmm, yeah.

Nick Clason (24:34)
That's the phone has not allowed us to do that. It's not going away. So instead we got to figure out how do we lean into it into what's uncomfortable and maybe like uncertain waters, like lean into it to just open up that continued kind of conversation thing. So I think that's, that's so good. So, yo, if you're listening here for me on my channel, go follow everything Ronald's doing, middle school ministry podcast. It's dope. It's all about middle schoolers and he's got dope co-hosts.

Ronald (24:48)
Absolutely.

Yeah. I just want to thank everybody for listening to my podcast, the hybrid ministry podcast. Thank you so much. That's really great. No, and if you're, if you're listening to this from middle school ministry podcast, you should definitely go check out what Nick Clayson is doing over in hybrid ministry. Some really good stuff, some really helpful things to carry the conversation forward when it comes to the digital world and youth ministry.

Nick Clason (25:05)
that you've taken over.

Yeah, no, I love it. So good. And like I said, we both collabed on a little resource. It's free in both of our show notes, so go grab that. that's it, man. We'll talk to guys next time.

Ronald (25:34)
See you around.

Episode 120: Holy Clicks: How Churches are Winning Social Media

Nick Clason — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 05:00:00 -0500

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DESCRIPTION
Pastor, would you like to reach 300,000 people?
Maybe you don’t even want virality, you just want to be relevant online, to serve guests and your existing church members
Whatever the reason, I wonder…
Which components of your discipleship strategy are digital?
Are any?

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//CHURCH COMMS FOR YOU
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//PRACTICING THE WAY
https://www.practicingtheway.org/

//NIEUWHOF’S TRENDS ARTICLE
https://careynieuwhof.com/church-trends-2024/

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--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Pastor, Want to Reach People Better?
01:46 Church's Lack of Online Innovation
03:24 My FREE Guide to Digital Ministry
03:46 Eye-Popping Statistics about Millenial and Gen Z Church Attendance
05:46 Custom Hybrid Coaching
07:23 The Online Funnel
08:45 Church Communications Done for You

--------------
✍️TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:07:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Pastor, church leader. Would you like to reach 300,000 people? I mean, maybe you would.

00:00:07:29 - 00:00:19:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
but maybe that's not even your goal. Maybe when you think about online ministry and digital approaches to church, maybe virality isn't your goal. Maybe you just simply want to serve your

00:00:19:21 - 00:00:22:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
guests and your members really well.

00:00:22:28 - 00:00:31:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Whatever the reason is, I wonder which components of your church and of your discipleship strategy are

00:00:31:22 - 00:00:32:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
digital.

00:00:32:16 - 00:00:34:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Are there are there even any? You know,

00:00:34:28 - 00:00:41:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Carey Nieuwhof recently wrote this about the church's sometimes archaic approach to to church and to discipleship. He said

00:00:41:27 - 00:00:58:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
most churches approach it like this. Let's just get people in our building. Let's just get people in the room, and then we'll figure out how to disciple them. Well, in this episode, what I want to do is I want to share with you how churches are reaching people, specifically young people, online.

00:00:58:19 - 00:01:13:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I'm also going to share with you some eye opening statistics about generation Z and millennials and their church attendance, and how that should frame your solution to the online and digital conundrum. But stick around to the end of the video, because I have a

00:01:13:01 - 00:01:19:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
solution that's going to cost you next to nothing that can maximize your impact online.

00:01:19:09 - 00:01:19:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Hey there

00:01:19:23 - 00:01:38:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
everyone! My name is Nicholas, and if you and I haven't had a chance to meet yet, welcome to the Hybrid Ministry show. I've been in youth ministry for 14 years, and thus I've also been in digitally integrated ministry for 14 years. And in recent years I have upped the ante on that. And I have gone all in on digital and content marketing

00:01:38:14 - 00:01:43:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
in the context of church and in the context of youth ministry.

00:01:43:02 - 00:02:14:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So I'm so excited to have you here. Let's hop in. You know, there are churches, believe it or not, out there like church home like Life Church that are reaching thousands of young adults and they're doing it online. In fact, John Mark Comber has a delivery system for discipleship resources in his Discipleship Resource Delivery system is 100% through his digital platform called Practicing the Way You Know in the article link down below that I am referencing that Karen you have talked about.

00:02:14:13 - 00:02:16:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
He said this. He said after a

00:02:16:00 - 00:02:40:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
brief period for churches of innovation with all kinds of online ministries, churches offered during Covid when it first hit, most churches have toggled back to simply stream their weekend services and using social media to either share last week's service or to advertise their next service. Live streaming your weekend service taps about 1% of the potential that online ministry has to offer.

00:02:40:29 - 00:02:59:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But I would imagine if you're in church or in pastoral ministry, you probably feel as though you don't have time, especially when it pertains to digital and especially when it pertains to online, because it can just be a totally new skillset, and entering into a new skill set is never a fun phenomenon, because you gotta learn so many things.

00:02:59:27 - 00:03:22:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So give me a like, if any of these things that I'm about to share are things that you've had to do within the past week, give me. Like if you've had to write a sermon or enter into a counseling appointment, or if you've had to focus on community outreach of sorts, or heaven forbid, give me a like if you've even had to do some administrative duties, I should have hundreds of likes on this video.

00:03:22:29 - 00:03:36:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
At this point, I want you to give me a subscribe. If you instantly think to yourself with all those to do, how in the world am I supposed to make social media and digital a priority? I have some good news for you. Link down below is my completely

00:03:36:05 - 00:03:41:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
free full strategy guide. It's how I grew our channels and had to how

00:03:41:14 - 00:03:45:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I approach social and digital media here in the context that I'm in.

00:03:45:12 - 00:04:11:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If you're watching here on YouTube, in the article that I link down below, you can also go check it out. Carey Nieuwhof is the millennial generation is now squarely your church's main focus. Or it should be because, church attendance has gone up. For millennials, it's higher than gen X and it's higher than boomers. Furthermore, according to a study done by Barna a couple of years back, millennial church goers said this.

00:04:11:02 - 00:04:26:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
They said hybrid church just as much as physical church will be a good this good fit for them. Furthermore, I want to share some of these statistics with you. If you're watching here on YouTube, you can see them, but it says, the question was,

00:04:26:22 - 00:04:33:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
do you use the internet for faith purposes? Do you use the internet as a faith supplement?

00:04:33:08 - 00:05:00:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Do you use the internet as a substitute for physical church church? Gen Z, unsurprisingly, was the highest, with 67% using it for faith purposes. 56% using it as a faith supplement, and 58% using it as a substitute for physical church. Millennials were next, with 64% using it for faith purposes. 46% as a faith supplement, and 51% as a substitute for physical church and then church.

00:05:00:09 - 00:05:14:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Gen X and boomers go 58 and 42 for faith purposes, 45 and 32 for a faith supplement, and 44 and 40 for a, substitute for physical church. And I share all of

00:05:14:00 - 00:05:22:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
those to say is that the strategy of let's just get them here in the room is not going to work anymore, and you can try that.

00:05:22:21 - 00:05:46:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
That's fine. And I get why we would be prone to want to do that, because in this same article by Barna, the, future of the hybrid church, which I'll link down below in the shownotes if you want to check that out. Purchase product, but it's fantastic. It's fantastic. There is a, there is still a desire to gather together, which is why it's I like to call it hybrid.

00:05:46:07 - 00:06:08:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's not just digital. It's not just what we had during Covid, which was only digital. Right? It's it's digital plus in person. So in-person still has, a job to do. And so what I want to offer to you is you can grab my free e-book, but if you get in there and you're like, I don't know what's best for us, and we'll let you know about some custom coaching that I have to offer.

00:06:08:22 - 00:06:29:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
My custom coaching is four sessions long. $50 per session will be $200 out of your overall budget, which is absolutely pennies in the in the drop in the bucket in an overall church size budget. But if you know, even that is too much, reach out. We can make something work. But the reason that custom coaching is important is because every context is different.

00:06:29:10 - 00:06:53:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I can tell you what I'm doing here in DFW, Dallas-Fort worth area, to reach, in my context, Gen Z or young, you know, basically almost done with Gen Z to Gen Alpha. But and that might be helpful because if you're managing church social media for an overall church, like, well, we're doing is very going to be very cutting edge for, you know, like older Gen Z and even like millennials.

00:06:53:12 - 00:07:15:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But every church in every context and every geographical area is a little bit different. I was recently, coaching another guy, and, my typical like, strategy, I changed it and tweaked it a little bit for him because he was doing things just a little bit differently. His context was a little bit different, and his role was a little bit unique compared to what I typically would tell people to do.

00:07:15:01 - 00:07:34:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so even I was, you know, thinking through and adjusting my model. And so it's important because everyone in every place is different. And so you can get my free guide and you can use what works, you know, for you out of that. But if you want to even tap in just a little bit further to some of the uniqueness of every context, that's where customized coaching comes in.

00:07:34:03 - 00:07:58:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Because here's the thing. For you and for me and for all of us, like, my like, general strategy is simply, walking down a funnel of posting short form content, silly content, as well as spiritual content, and hopefully gathering an audience with that and then pushing them to, like a long form version of some more serious spiritual content, which is what we do in our youth ministry.

00:07:58:18 - 00:08:27:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We pre film our messages and we adapt them and make them specific for YouTube. You know, we do that versus like a live stream type of thing. As Kerry New study said. This said the challenge is the future is to diversify what you offer online and distinguish it from what you offer in person. So not only is that going to create true options, New Life continues on to say, but it will deepen engagement as your in-person and online ministries lean towards what each does best.

00:08:27:07 - 00:08:44:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then, beyond. Just like your message content, beyond your weekly sermon, so to speak, that are also going to live online, whether that's live stream, which I would argue is not as good as a pre filmed version, but it's still better than than nothing. You can also lean into things like courses and those types of things.

00:08:44:28 - 00:09:04:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then the final piece is this is like as I say, all this and there's, you know, maybe a minute ago you gave me that sub because you were like, dude, there's just too much to do. And even with some custom coaching, there's still going to be a lot on your plate. You're 100% right. There is. There's still a lot of work to do, which is what I want to offer to, to some of you might be worth it.

00:09:04:13 - 00:09:26:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Budget wise, communications done for you. It's a service that I offer. And I will run your website. Or I will do graphics and video, or I will run your YouTube and social media. Each of those different buckets and categories is a different price point. Or you can bundle them all together for, a different price point link down below to inquire about that.

00:09:26:25 - 00:09:31:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But let me just tell you that it is a 10th of the cost of a

00:09:31:25 - 00:09:39:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
full time staff person. If you were to hire me and contract me to do communications for you and for your church and for your ministry,

00:09:39:18 - 00:09:47:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
because there's so much on your plate and you just you, you want it, but you don't have the time or bandwidth or desire maybe even to learn it.

00:09:47:05 - 00:10:02:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I understand that. And at some point it's just worth it, you know, to just get it off of your plate. And if that you're in that zone and you don't want the coaching, you don't want to learn via the e-book, then great. Then check out what I have to offer communications for you. I will do things like inspect your website.

00:10:02:26 - 00:10:09:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I will optimize your search engine optimization. I will make your website as visitor friendly as possible.

00:10:09:03 - 00:10:09:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If you

00:10:09:13 - 00:10:42:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
want to go in the graphics route, I can do graphic design for you. I can do series and events and pre screen and print graphics and all those types of things. Get those pesky jobs off of your plate. And if you want to optimize your church's social media, live stream or YouTube profile messages, we can, do thumbnails, we can title the video, we can optimize the tags for search engine optimization and create chapters so that people can jump around in your videos, create playlists and online courses, and also create post shorts for your social

00:10:42:24 - 00:11:04:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
media. Whatever works best and whatever you want done for you. All of it is linked down below in the description or in the show notes. I'd love to have you check those things out, but again, I appreciate you being here and listen. It is. The future of the church is online. It's not only online, but are you? A wide portion of it is.

00:11:04:07 - 00:11:27:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And the fact is, the more capacity and bandwidth that you have to take it there, the more effective I believe you will be to maximize your reach and your influence. So continue to pursue reaching people for Jesus. Continue to pursue the call and the assignment in which God has placed you, particularly right now in this season. And don't forget, and as always, stay hybrid.

Episode 110: Distractions During Youth Group: The Solution

Nick Clason — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 04:00:00 -0500

🔥 [FREE] Hybrid Ministry Strategy Guide🔥

https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book

💥[CUSTOM] Hybrid Coaching💥

https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/coaching

======================================
DESCRIPTION
What in the world do we do about cellphone usage during youth group?!
It seems like it's getting worse and worse!

Well, Josh Boldman, of DYM (downloadyouthministry.com) is here to help reveal his thoughts, as well as a full-proof program to not only take care of the cell phone epidemic, but to unveil the future of youth ministry as we all know it!

======================================
📓SHOWNOTES
//SHOWNOTES & TRANSCRIPTS
http://www.hybridministry.xyz/110

//CO-LEADER CURRICULUM
https://www.coleader.co/

//SIDEKICK
https://sidekick.tv/

//JOSH ON DYM
https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/featured-authors/josh-boldman/

//SIDEKICK FEATURE REQUEST
https://sidekick-tv.canny.io/feature-requests

//JOSH ON SOCIAL
https://www.tiktok.com/@joshboldman
https://www.instagram.com/joshboldman/
https://www.facebook.com/joshboldman
https://x.com/joshboldman

======================================

🆓 FREEBIES 🆓
Level up your youth ministry game with these freebies!
🔗 https://linktr.ee/clasonnick

BEST DYM RESOURCES
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym

OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361

//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit

AUTO POD
https://autopod.lemonsqueezy.com?aff=MX7Vv

--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Intro - How your experience got you where you are now
04:15 Sidekick's Introduction into the Digital Realm of Youth Ministry
09:00 Sidekick's most user friendly features
13:50 What's next for Sidekick?
17:36 How Sidekick aids in showing up where students are
19:25 The Recipe to Engaging Students where they are
30:42 Final Thoughts on Hybrid Ministry
--------------
✍️TRANSCRIPT

00:00:00:15 - 00:00:23:04
Nick Clason
What is up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the Hybrid Ministry show. I, as always my host Nick Klassen. And I'm really excited. Today I got the one and only Josh Boldman who works at Diam now. He also has years of experience in youth ministry. And so we are going to interview Josh today. What's up everybody? I'm here with Josh Boldman. Josh how you doing this morning bro?

00:00:23:04 - 00:00:44:07
Josh Boldman
I am good man. How are you doing I'm great. I'm glad to have you on

Nick Clason
the long awaited Josh Boldman interview.

Josh Boldman
Most podcasts are still waiting. I just wanted to make it very clear.

Nick Clason
Oh man, I feel like I'm in an exclusive club. Yeah, or something.

Josh Boldman
So they just don't know. They don't know it yet, but they're still waiting.

00:00:44:07 - 00:01:10:12
Nick Clason
Yeah, they definitely are. But not me. Not us. Josh, like, tell the people, how did. Who are you and how did you get to where you are today?

Josh Boldman
Oh my gosh. Okay. That is it all started on a cold with. No. okay. So I have, right there. So I'll start with where I'm at. right now I am I am the team lead for co-leader, which is, a part of the download Youth Ministry family.

00:01:10:14 - 00:01:39:17
Josh Boldman
I also, run lead in the sidekick arena, which is our presentation software. We'll get to that. but that's only been for about the last year. before that, I spent, somewhere in the neighborhood of. Right at about 20 years in student ministry, as a youth pastor or youth minister or student pastor or student ministries director, or any of the other myriad ways that you can you can describe it.

00:01:39:19 - 00:02:03:18
Josh Boldman
but I did that. Gosh, from Florida, to Illinois, to, tiny, tiny little churches to big old churches to, single site to multi-site to we do youth ministry on Sunday morning to we do youth ministry on Wednesday nights like normal people do. all that, you know, so, you know, it's just kind of been all over the place.

00:02:03:24 - 00:02:27:24
Josh Boldman
Yeah. but for the last ten, I'll say ten. It's probably like six, but I'll say ten years. I pastor mother, with Dwight. Yeah. It's like, how many kids were there? The 400. I don't know, it was too many to count. but yeah. So I, I've been an author with Tim, putting resources like games and teaching content and countdowns and videos and stuff together for DYM.

00:02:27:27 - 00:02:47:11
Josh Boldman
And then about a year ago, they had somebody that was going on maternity leave and they're like, hey, you want to cover for that person? I was like, yeah, yeah, I do. And then I spent all 90 days of that maternity leave, trying to make it where there was literally no way they could let me go afterward.

00:02:47:11 - 00:03:08:12
Nick Clason
And it it worked nice.

Josh Boldman
Absolutely worked. I was it was dicey for about about 45 days. And then I was like, nah, I think I got I think, I think I got this. So she came back and I was not asked to pack up and leave. so that has worked out for everybody. Yeah. You didn't put her on the job either?

00:03:08:12 - 00:03:31:27
Josh Boldman
No, no, it's kind of great. Yeah. So, you know, it's been it's been a ride. this last year, co-leader has transitioned from a, a platform where you can plan ministry to a full blown annual curriculum. we've launched sidekick. sidekick, which is now in beta. we had Sidekick Legacy, which was a standalone app.

00:03:31:27 - 00:03:53:26
Josh Boldman
Now it's built in the browser. So you open it in Chrome and you can you can play. You know, play your presentation literally anywhere. we did that all with any I mean, it's like literally anything we could have done, we we decided we were like, hey, you know what? If we just take everything we ever want to do and we just jam it all into one calendar year, and we got this.

00:03:53:27 - 00:04:08:28
Nick Clason
Yeah, we got this guy now who's covering for this girl on maternity leave, and now we can. We had him go. So we're we need to get our money's worth out of him. That's there. Like, we have so many staff. We have so we have so many. And now, now we need to have them do things, so.

00:04:08:28 - 00:04:30:10
Nick Clason
Oh, man, I gotta say the like this, I don't there's no pitch. Like, no, like kickback. None of this. I love co-leader and I love sidekick. And, we, I made our church and I think I told you this, but we'll tell everyone I was like, I made our church by two computers so that we could run pro presenter.

00:04:30:10 - 00:04:52:19
Nick Clason
Because the musicians need the confidence monitor, like the not not what's on the screen mirror, but like what's coming. So like what? So that's valid.

Josh Boldman
So they don't practice is what you're telling me.

Nick Clason
Exactly. They're ill prepared. So I had to give them what they needed at the give the musicians you know, throw my bone. But I made them buy another computer and a like a black magic video switcher.

00:04:52:19 - 00:05:11:04
Josh Boldman
And we running everything else now. Yeah. Off of sidekick. And so, so, so what I'm hearing you say is because of the worship ministry, you guys have to rely on dark magic. Is that. What is that where he is? Oh, black. Matt. Oh, it's a black. It's a company that's different. Okay. All right. I mean, I wouldn't have been surprised either.

00:05:11:11 - 00:05:37:06
Nick Clason
Yeah, yeah, either way. But I love the like I love a lot of things about it. But my favorite part about it is the phone integration. Right. And, we played last week like a game like, multiple choice game. And they could literally play on their phones. And this was the first time I'd, I'd use that particular, like, setting there and sidekick, like the, the question with, with the quiz like type of.

00:05:37:08 - 00:06:02:05
Nick Clason
Yeah. Like what the correct answer. Yes. Yes. And I loved that. That was super fun. so talk to me just a little bit about, like, you know, you jump in. Were there rumblings and plans about sidekick being revamped or did you see some of like those opportunities and be like, this is what I see in youth ministry as a youth pastor, 20 plus years and now, yeah, I want to help kind of evolve it to the next stage, like give us that kind of background.

00:06:02:08 - 00:06:26:01
Josh Boldman
Yeah. So something that, I it's really funny because I don't know that many youth workers realize, although I feel like we should is that, software development takes billions of dollars and lots and lots of time. and so, so when I started at downloading Ministry, the plan had already been. We are revamping sidekick. I'm. You know, I'm just gonna peel back the curtain, you know?

00:06:26:01 - 00:06:50:24
Josh Boldman
You don't know. Yeah. Sorry. I took the original app. All right. Was written in a, in a programing environment that got depreciate. All right, so it is. It was built long, so it was built on something called chromium. and it it it is a like sidekick. Legacy is a work of art. Like it is a it was a game changer for me when I was in ministry.

00:06:50:24 - 00:07:14:13
Josh Boldman
The the spinning wheel boxes. Yeah. it was one of a kind. No one was. Oh, my gosh, nobody was doing it right. And then, what happened about two years ago, maybe three years ago now is chromium got depreciated. And we realized what that meant was there was now no way to update the legacy. I don't know at all, like, impossible, like literally impossible.

00:07:14:16 - 00:07:31:17
Josh Boldman
And and so it was like, okay, well, we can either rebuild a new one or we can take it in a different direction. And one of the really things that people that people hated was every time you open the legacy app, you have to sign in every single time you had to type in the password. It was a great time.

00:07:31:20 - 00:07:52:23
Josh Boldman
I got into trouble. One time I was in front of our, like our whole camp, like it was like a thousand kids, right? And sidekick was running, and then it crashed. And then they had to reopen it, and they're like, from the booth, they yell out, what's the password? No. And in front of 1000 students, I had to say a password into the microphone.

00:07:52:23 - 00:08:14:14
Josh Boldman
And here's the best part. You ready for this? It was the same password for everything. Like my my bank account and, all this stuff. So, like, so like, I immediately I started teaching, and then I get off stage and I'm like, I gotta change every password I mean, ever had. It was a nightmare. so we thought, okay, what is the best way to make this as portable as possible?

00:08:14:14 - 00:08:33:01
Josh Boldman
So we went with putting it in, in the browser. Yeah. which I'll be honest, I mean, it was basically like it was a trade off, right? It gave us a lot of, functionality as far as portability, as far as far as syncing. Yeah. but it there are trade offs, right? Like Google Chrome. both.

00:08:33:01 - 00:08:52:11
Josh Boldman
Google. Safari, Apple. you know, Firefox, they all have different rules about like window management. And so like you'll know like when you open sidekick and you go to present, you have to drag the window over to your other browser. Like that's not ideal right now. We that's why we have a video switcher now that's why. Right.

00:08:52:13 - 00:09:22:11
Josh Boldman
Yeah. That's why we that's why we as Christians rely on dark black magic. Black. It's that's what it is. and so, so, you know, so there are some trade offs for sure. For sure. But, but what we started realizing was, the, the pitch that we started telling people that when it, I think it really kind of clicked for people how how different was good is we would tell them, like, we would show them what we could do with, with voting, with spinning wheel, with, with pick me like the main ideas.

00:09:22:14 - 00:09:41:11
Josh Boldman
And I said, what's really cool is I can create this presentation. I can, immediately, as soon as I add an element to a slide, I can close the laptop, I can break it over my knee, I can set it on fire and throw it in the ocean. And then I can just go to church, open the computer, and it's it's there like it is there.

00:09:41:12 - 00:10:03:18
Josh Boldman
It does not miss a beat. you probably have to like on the computer at church, though, because yours is God's an ocean. Oh yeah. No no no no. Yeah. There's no recovering from it really at the point. Not sidekicks. Not that good yet. Yeah. No, I mean, yeah. but. Yeah. So so it's, Yeah, it's it's being able to sync and being able to to go remote.

00:10:03:25 - 00:10:28:19
Josh Boldman
That's awesome. But then when we started showing people, hey, all you have to do is the same thing you did to log in on your computer, do that on your phone. And what it does is it turns your phone into a remote for the exact same presentation that's running on your presentation computer. and I mean, just suddenly being able to when you're doing polls on your phone, you can see the results, before they're even shown on the screen.

00:10:28:22 - 00:10:57:09
Josh Boldman
you can go to next, go back. You can do slide notes. You can. I mean, it did really any of the functionality that's there except for editing on the computer. You can do that literally on your phone in real time because I don't know if you've ever I'm certainly you've never been in this situation where you have a sixth grader who is so well intentioned is like, I want to run the computer and you're like, yes, that is a that is a thing a sixth grader can do.

00:10:57:09 - 00:11:26:24
Josh Boldman
You can hit the spacebar. Yeah. And and then, and then they, and then they don't, they, they just don't hit the spacebar. And so like I would always use it as just like my, my phone was, I wasn't there. So I was running it, but it was my fallback. Like I was like, okay, that kid in the back, there was one time, I swear to you, right, at an unnamed church that I worked at for a while.

00:11:26:27 - 00:11:51:12
Josh Boldman
I remember once, so I would always try, so I was a student ministry director there, and so I always I would always try, like, I would. Yeah, I was either teaching or whatever, but I would always try to do anytime I wasn't teaching, I would try to do something else. So like anytime I wasn't teaching, I would be in the booth or the, you know, doing the game or, you know, but so there's one time I'm in the booth and, and the lyrics for the songs are not firing on time.

00:11:51:12 - 00:12:18:01
Josh Boldman
And I, so I'm like, leaning over and I'm looking. The kid is watching Star Wars the movie. Like, like an actual movie on his phone. Not a TikTok, not a YouTube. No. The two hour movie, two hour movie with subtitles. And he is holding his phone like screamed. Is it because the subtitles are so small? And I'm like, hey, I know, I know, you're looking at that because words are important.

00:12:18:03 - 00:12:38:25
Josh Boldman
However, everyone else in the room is looking up here because words are important. So maybe I don't know, I don't know, that's just jump up and just jump on that. That's a win right there. Yeah. So but being able to you know when you're on stage and things go wrong there are like a couple of options. And and one of them is to make the person in the booth feel really bad.

00:12:38:25 - 00:13:00:09
Nick Clason
And that is never the right option. Right. It's never to call attention to the person messed up. But we want to sometimes. Oh oh yes, yes, yes we do. But being able to just say, okay, I've got my phone here. Hey, Mr. Cube, don't worry, I'm just going to jump it like, yeah, was that was the game changer for me.

00:13:00:11 - 00:13:22:15
Josh Boldman
and so now we're just on this journey of trying to reach full parity between the legacy version and what is right now, the lovingly called the beta version of sidekick. until it until it has all the same features. yeah. But what we're finding is that is, like I said, the original The legacy is a work of art.

00:13:22:17 - 00:13:47:09
Josh Boldman
And, right now, we are working on boxes and that is in the browser proving to be a challenging. Yeah, it is, it's just, you know, it's one of those things like, you wouldn't think like even when we first, the first go around, we did, wheel and pick me. Right. Those were the first two things. And so with the wheel, you know, you think how this is, it's a spinning wheel.

00:13:47:10 - 00:14:04:24
Josh Boldman
Like there's no. Yeah, there's nothing complicated here. Oh, but there is, friend, because pixels are square. Yeah. I don't know if you knew that or not, but pixels was great. So when you try and rotate them around and center axis that's a. Yeah. It's just it's one of those things like, you know, you think you got it.

00:14:04:24 - 00:14:21:03
Josh Boldman
And then suddenly you're like, oh, that looks really bad. And so then it just it's like you have to go right back to the drawing board and, and so, so yeah. So right now we're working on boxes. It's, it's taking a little longer than we had hoped, but but you're working with square pixels now. So square pixels.

00:14:21:06 - 00:14:35:10
Josh Boldman
We know what we're doing. Yeah. Yes. Wouldn't it be funny if like, in the like when, when it was the wheel, we had a problem because it was squares. But then like we're like, alright, now we're going to move the boxes and like just the world, like was like, you know what we figured out round pixels are better.

00:14:35:12 - 00:14:57:21
Josh Boldman
And I was like, no, no. Yeah. But but yeah. So we're that. So we got boxes, in the pipeline. we're we, we here and I know anybody that knows sidekick already. Their first question that they have been asking is what about, survey says, which is our family feud builder. Right. And, that one is, it's coming.

00:14:57:21 - 00:15:19:27
Josh Boldman
It's like, but it's it is it all takes a yeah, it all takes time. And, so, best way anybody, anybody that, you know, can help me go to sidekick.TV. There's a link there where you can, you can submit ideas and requests and you can even vote on other people's. And and that always helps us know kind of what's next.

00:15:19:29 - 00:15:36:15
Josh Boldman
yeah. But yeah, we'll drop. That'll be. We're loving it, dude. I mean, and. Oh, I, I know the sound is starting to sound like a commercial and I apologize, but it's, it's it is. It's like it's just so fun is, when, when one of the most recent things we did was we connected everyone's dim accounts to the download youth ministry.

00:15:36:15 - 00:16:04:05
Josh Boldman
If you buy something, there, he just automatically shows up. And that is that was awesome. Sweet. Because, I mean, it used to be, I don't know. I mean, you you make games for GM that are video based, right. And and when you do that those those files are massive. Like, you know, I mean, it's not uncommon for a game to be three, four gigabytes, you know, but it's also 3 or 4GB of, you know, that's 20, 30 videos for the game.

00:16:04:05 - 00:16:21:05
Josh Boldman
And so then adding each of those in is kind of a nightmare. And so we figured out a way to do it is we do it on our end once and then it when you buy it, it just you can just it shows up in your library. You click on it and it's just in that is yeah, man, I'm telling you I will.

00:16:21:08 - 00:16:38:28
Josh Boldman
I never have to worry about losing a thumb drive ever again. Yeah, because I don't know if you know this or not, but I don't know where my thumb drive it is right now. I lost it in 1997. so. Sounds like there are some important things on there. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Knows it was, I don't know, something.

00:16:38:28 - 00:17:04:23
Josh Boldman
Call it bitcoin. Bitcoin I don't remember. You could have been rich. You wouldn't even have to be here right now. Well I'll tell you what. Of all the things like all the things you're talking about, there's like, there's phone usage on both sides, right? So if you're presenting, you can use your phone as a remote, but if you're, you're, watching your in the audience, there are like integrations where there's like voting and games and all that stuff.

00:17:04:23 - 00:17:25:07
Nick Clason
Yeah. And, I think that's my favorite part. Like as a youth pastor now for, over ten years, like I've always been trying to figure out how to get ourselves in youth ministry. Like relevant to our students are, as opposed to, like, when they're at church, make them do something that's so completely foreign to like their current culture.

00:17:25:07 - 00:17:56:28
Nick Clason
Right? Like youth culture, like they're all messaging one another through their phones. They're all like consuming news articles and social media through their phones. And then we get to church and like the church I was at, like when I started the previous regime, no shade. but they had, like, phone lockers, like they would take kids cellphones and lock them and like, and what we're do, in my opinion, is like, okay, so we're, we're just trying to modify their behavior, but we haven't actually like change their true authentic like desire to like be here and listen.

00:17:56:28 - 00:18:19:26
Nick Clason
We just want them quieter for us. And like that we should just be better. Like, yeah. And so y'all start rolling out all this stuff on sidekick. And I'm like, here's the opportunity for us to use what is native to them in our environment and in a way that doesn't, like, break the bank anymore, because to get some of these features through other third party like platforms, we just don't have the money.

00:18:19:26 - 00:18:45:09
Nick Clason
As a youth pastor, you know what I'm saying? In your budget, whatever the case might be. So yeah, so that's my favorite part. And so I would love it if you would talk about not just necessarily like the sidekick integration, but what has been your experience and your unique perspective as a youth pastor with how what we've done in youth culture and how like we've then asked them to come to church culture and how they don't all they're like oil and water sometimes.

00:18:45:09 - 00:19:07:04
Nick Clason
Like, how are we? How can we reach students better and to find ourselves where they are, which is online, on phones, all those things.

Josh Boldman
I mean, okay, so you remember, man, even I mean, when I was growing up and especially early in my ministry, you know, it was always the, the thing was, you were always fighting against like, like travel sports, right?

00:19:07:04 - 00:19:30:07
Josh Boldman
Like that was like the, the, the bane of youth ministry existence was like, oh, we still are really, by the way. Oh, to be cool. Yeah. Oh, no doubt. But it was like, I don't know, there was like a point where I think we just we got tired of seeing no results from shame, shaming those kids. Like, it's like you want to play travel ball.

00:19:30:11 - 00:19:47:28
Josh Boldman
We'll play travel ball. Yeah. With the devil. You know, it's like that. Doesn't like it doesn't help anybody. When? When all we're doing is. Or like. Like, oh, you have a phone, go lock it up because it's, you know, it's like that, doesn't it? Yeah. What does that do? All that does is like when you're locking up a kid's phone.

00:19:48:05 - 00:20:10:09
Josh Boldman
I feel like the way that you can know that it's not working is as soon as the the time, like the lockdown is over, was the very first thing they do. They run to go get it. Yeah. Which means that it was, it was on their mind still. So it's not like you really saved you know them any, any trouble or any like you didn't gain anything by pulling it away, you know, because their attention is still stuck on it.

00:20:10:11 - 00:20:36:16
Josh Boldman
so really what I think, I think is we're seeing right now in youth ministry as a whole, in, in what we're trying to do, a sidekick is really we're trying to figure out ways to engage students, literally where they are. And so, I guess, have you, did you ever do camps where the rule was the kids couldn't even bring their phone to camp?

00:20:36:18 - 00:20:59:04
Nick Clason
I never did. No, I could have, right. But I never I always I've always run my own camp, so I make the rules. So. Yeah. And I've always been in churches or youth ministries where the goal is to bring kids who don't go to our church to camp. And like, I'm not going to get a kid and their family who's never met me, send their kid like hours away without a lifeline back to them.

00:20:59:04 - 00:21:24:10
Josh Boldman
Oh yeah. Kids. Oh, no. So I've never tried to fight that battle, but it was fake because we used to almost use that, like as an advertisement. We were like, come to camp where you get away from your phone and kids are like, I don't want to do that, you know? And so, like, there was a point where I think maybe 20 years ago, you probably could do it, but even now, it's not even just the kid, it's the parents that are like, I'm not sending my kid without their phone.

00:21:24:10 - 00:21:58:02
Josh Boldman
What's wrong with you? You know? Yeah. So, like, so what we decided to do with with sidekick is like, okay, what if instead of constantly harping on, he put your phone away or go lock it up or don't even bring it, or, you know, trying to make it seem like the phone itself was the enemy. What if we decided to say like, hey, we understand that that phone, it's an extension of you now like that just, I mean, and that, I mean, you know, I mean, I think you can get really, like, dystopian, you know, like, like Blade Runner type type vibes from, like, the phone is an extension of you, but but it is

00:21:58:03 - 00:22:21:24
Josh Boldman
mine is an extension of me like, I mean, I literally if I, I don't know when the last time I walked out of my house without my phone was like, it's not just because I didn't forget it, it's because if it's not in my pocket, it feels like I'm missing something. I feel like I know I'm missing it, and you're gonna need it, you know, like, oh, sure, it's your calendar, it's your wallet, it's your navigation, it's your everything.

00:22:21:24 - 00:22:49:12
Nick Clason
Like it. So you can't so much. That's my argument is like this. It's not going anywhere. So we can try our hardest as youth pastors and churches to fight against culture. But it's a losing battle eventually. And it's not like, oh, let's give in to culture because it's evil, right? No, no, no. It's how do we take this thing that is not moral, it's not morally right or morally wrong, but how do we take this thing and just use it as a tool?

00:22:49:12 - 00:23:07:12
Josh Boldman
It's it's a tool, 100% tool that we we would have died for 15, 20 years ago, like, oh yeah, I was talking on the last episode like we didn't have group chats 15 years ago. If you want to talk to your student, you talk to them when they came to your building and that was it. But now you can do pastoral care.

00:23:07:12 - 00:23:39:02
Nick Clason
You can, and just do a basic thing like texting. When I'm talking about something like software development right now. Yeah. So one of the things, that has been really cool to experiment with, and we've seen a couple people do this really well is is using like polls like, okay, so there's a there are different ways you can use it, but the like, so say as you're teaching, if, if you're saying something that you know is going to fly right over their heads, right?

00:23:39:05 - 00:24:11:11
Josh Boldman
Pausing literally at that moment and asking the question, hey, did you catch that? And yes or no, like literally something super simple like, did you catch that? Yes or no? And then adjusting what you say next based on their response or, we've even seen people take their entire services in like a, choose your own adventure type approach where, I mean, it is it seems minor, but it's something like, hey, we've got the worship team has two songs that they prepared, but we're only going to do one.

00:24:11:13 - 00:24:29:15
Josh Boldman
Hey, you all, they're here. Yeah. Which one you want to do? You know, or, you know, I've, done a couple teaching times where, like, so, you know, every youth pastor has, like, their, like, bag of tricks, like the, the saw or the stories that they tell that it's like, okay, I can tell this story, like drop of a hat.

00:24:29:15 - 00:25:00:17
Josh Boldman
Yeah. you know, and so, like, I, I'll start with, like, right at the beginning of a message will say, hey, guys, I can tell you one of, three stories. You know, when when I got hit by a car, one when I accidentally killed my girlfriend's cat and one when I, when I stubbed my toe, you know, and so, like, you take your pick, you know, and just let them pick, and it doesn't change anything about where that message is going, but letting them have a moment where they can speak into it.

00:25:00:17 - 00:25:27:22
Josh Boldman
Like, I guarantee you, when the room picks the story, the room pays attention to the story more. Yeah. or or even at the end, you know, be a great way to, to really, especially if you're trying to reach students that are not familiar with church a lot, you know, like that aren't around a lot is, at the end of the message just saying, like, hey, on a scale of 1 to 5, how much do you agree with what you just heard?

00:25:27:25 - 00:25:46:26
Josh Boldman
can you met and live in live results on the screen like, hey, okay, so but can you imagine how much that might change your small group conversations that are going to happen right after the lesson? If if you suddenly see, like, oh, we just talked about this and 80% of the room says, I don't agree, okay, great.

00:25:47:03 - 00:26:10:20
Josh Boldman
Then let's go to our small groups and let's see this mess out. You know, or I think that there's, there's stuff like that or or you could even say if you're doing a series, you could, you could say, hey, here are the four weeks of the series. we did the intro this week. Which one you want to hear about next week and let them pick where you're going to go, and then you have a whole week to figure out how to get there.

00:26:10:22 - 00:26:29:11
Josh Boldman
yeah. But it but I guarantee you, those students that voted are going to be more likely to be there if they know what you're talking about. And they actually helped get to to choose what that was going to be. Yeah, I think I think there's a lot there. And we're working love to say like we're working like it's like in development, right, right now.

00:26:29:11 - 00:26:49:09
Josh Boldman
But it's like I mean, one of the things on the, on the docket is, is, you know, being able to have students from their seat ask questions, be able to give feedback, you know, in real time so that you, as you're standing there on the, you know, platform with your phone that you're able to see the questions as they come in.

00:26:49:11 - 00:27:06:03
Josh Boldman
we're trying to figure out things like how to moderate those things because I don't know about you, but if you ask open ended questions and just have the answers up on the screen without, you might get some filtering. Yeah. Inappropriate answer, I don't know, I don't know. I mean, my the students that I've ever worked with are always saints and so they would not do that.

00:27:06:03 - 00:27:30:01
Nick Clason
But I would imagine yours. Well you know it's crazy is like here's another like just interesting youth culture is like I was working at a church in Chicago and it was very like it, it prided itself on we reach people who are far from God. And so, you know, that's going to come with a certain like, oh, I student and now I'm in the Bible Belt in Dallas, Texas.

00:27:30:08 - 00:27:55:00
Nick Clason
And, it's like it prides itself on being like the church for Christians almost. And like the kids, the students, they're the same, like it's oh, no doubt. Right. That's the crazy thing is what the internet has done is it's leveled that like playing field of like, yeah, certain cultures, their youth culture is very consistent now and despite the demographic.

00:27:55:00 - 00:28:16:08
Nick Clason
And so the unique part is not our students. The unique part is helping our parents understand, that the students are still the same, you know, so, you know, something, we've seen is actually really cool that somebody was doing was they were using the live polls in their lobby for parents to answer as they were dropping their kids off.

00:28:16:08 - 00:28:40:12
Josh Boldman
That's cool. And, it was yeah, it was very cool. Was like, and it was, you know, some like, minor stuff that it was like, you know, what time is your middle schoolers? Bedtime. Like, you know. Yeah. Seven, eight, nine, ten, 11. You know, just pick one, you know, stuff like that. And it was minor. But again, it's, not just that you get individuals to engage, but the fact that everybody can see the responses as it as it goes.

00:28:40:14 - 00:29:09:00
Josh Boldman
There's, I think there's a lot of even still some untapped, untapped potential there. think about how to help people engage. Yeah. I think, we went to a conference a while back, and they're talking about the differences in generational ways of thinking. And like one of the things and I think this is true, despite like being an older, older generation of like all of us, but like Gen Z, Gen Alpha, like they're just looking to be known individually, like they don't want to be part of, like a sea of numbers.

00:29:09:00 - 00:29:32:20
Nick Clason
Right. And so when you are in a bigger context and you have 100,000 kids, like it's hard to it's hard for them to, to stand out and stuff like this helps them get to just yeah, speak their, their voice. Right. And they get to play a role. And even if they're voting for something and their choice doesn't get picked like they were heard and that's oh yeah, that's all it needs to be.

00:29:32:20 - 00:29:52:17
Nick Clason
It doesn't have to always go their way, you know? And there's probably some opportunity for them to learn some life lessons and stuff in there. But just like realizing like, hey, we're doing all this for you, but what what do you want? Like, that's I don't know. That's the key. So, Josh, as we wind this sucker down, like final thoughts.

00:29:52:17 - 00:30:16:09
Nick Clason
Final words. What what what if anything's, like burning on your soul to get out there?

Josh Boldman
Oh, man. All right, well, here. I'm glad you asked, Nick. no. okay, here's the thing is. Yeah, I think we need to not be afraid of what our students want. And we need to not be afraid of them expressing their opinion.

00:30:16:11 - 00:30:48:22
Josh Boldman
And we need to not be afraid of them disagreeing with each other or with us. I think that that is, you know, where where we are heading is a world that values, a diversity of opinion. And the value placed on each of those opinions, is crucial. And so, like, I mean, I think people really can very easily get confused into thinking that that means that every opinion is right or that every opinion carries the same weight.

00:30:48:22 - 00:31:09:12
Josh Boldman
And it's a that's not at all what it but it. I think there is a I think we we do ourselves and honestly the gospel and miss service when we, are a disservice. I don't think Miss Service is a word, a disservice when we, when we say, here is the correct answer, we don't even want to hear anything else.

00:31:09:15 - 00:31:42:02
Josh Boldman
because our students are coming into our, our, our environments with their own opinions and own presuppositions. And yes, they probably heard them all from the same TikTok channel. Like, that's fine, but they all still want it. They want to be heard. And so I think any time we can even begin to open the door to showing them that we value what they are walking in with, I think just builds, it builds credibility in their eyes.

00:31:42:05 - 00:32:07:01
Josh Boldman
I think in all honesty, I don't know, you know, I would argue that most students are they do not often find themselves in environments where their opinion is valued. so, I mean, whether that's school, I mean, and please don't hear me, teachers are awesome, but it is it is tough when especially when you have like a curriculum in a, in a school environment, you're like, hey, I need you to learn this thing.

00:32:07:07 - 00:32:31:22
Josh Boldman
Like, and there's not a lot of debate in biology, you know, like, it's just this is where we're at, you know? And so, but I think if we can create environments where it's, we're inviting students into a conversation where their voice matters, whether that's a, a deep theological conversation or whether that is a game that is literally, hey, I need you to pick A, B, or C because it's a trivia question.

00:32:31:22 - 00:32:57:01
Josh Boldman
Like it's it like, but but still valuing what they bring to the table. I think that that pays dividends in the long run in a, in a massive, massive way. I mean, whether that's later in the small group or whether that's ten years later or, you know, I'm at a point right now where kids, when I first started that were in sixth grade, now have their own sixth graders, and that is awful.

00:32:57:03 - 00:33:14:19
Josh Boldman
but but it's the same thing is those those kids are now in the place where they're deciding, am I going to bring my own kid to a youth group or not? And, you know, and I think that the way we treat our students now will influence how they raise their own families and what that looks like for them in the future.

00:33:14:19 - 00:33:34:17
Josh Boldman
So, never underestimate how important it is to for for a student's voice to be valued. Yeah. And what better spot in the world than for that to happen at church? Crazy, right? Who would've thought? Yeah, well, Josh, we're running out of time. But I appreciate you, man. Anywhere, anywhere else people can find, find the Josh Boldman, like.

00:33:34:19 - 00:34:00:20
Nick Clason
Oh, yeah, they want to, like, untap some of these other thoughts and deeper musings of the word is, oh, I don't know if deeper is going to be with the find, but, all the social media is, it's at Josh Boldman. I know, I'm so glad it wasn't taken. Yeah. You're lucky. all right, I know. Yeah. but then, again, you know, the download youth ministry store, you know, I mean, this is not to sell stuff, but like, a lot of the stuff I've written really does reflect where I'm at, you know?

00:34:00:20 - 00:34:09:15
Josh Boldman
And so, you know, check out any of that stuff there, but. Well, yeah. Love it. Man. Will appreciate you being on. And, everyone else, we'll talk next time. All right, bye friends.

Episode 081: 😲 Your Youth Sermons Don’t Matter

Nick Clason — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 07:00:00 -0600

⚡ Youth Ministry [On-Demand] Masterclass ⚡

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DESCRIPTION
👎 Do your youth group sermons stink?

🤷The ultimate goal we have for our students is to grow in their love for God and their love for others. However, does what you teach actually matter?

🤯In this vide we are going to share the surprising things that need to be in place, for your teaching to be effective! And GOOD NEWS: None of them have anything to do with your actual teaching! This is part 5 of the 2024 Youth Ministry [on-demand] Masterclass
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaLIJceFHg7w8vxlx5ARqXeg
======================================
📓SHOWNOTES
//SHOWNOTES & TRANSCRIPTS
http://www.hybridministry.xyz/081

//YOUTUBE VIDEO
https://youtu.be/gqOPjD5hN-g

//7 CHECKPOINTS
https://www.christianbook.com/the-seven-checkpoints-for-student-leaders/andy-stanley/9781439189337/pd/189337?utm_source=google&kw=161716281504&mt=&dv=c&event=PPCSRC&p=1186432&gclid=Cj0KCQiAkKqsBhC3ARIsAEEjuJhcSbVs_Wbqnq8WgKR-HbmYbSVDHHSUTO1p-Np1urnuM_Yt6U5dstMaAjwvEALw_wcB

//ATTENDANCE CONUNDRUM
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/03/22/more-houses-of-worship-are-returning-to-normal-operations-but-in-person-attendance-is-unchanged-since-fall/?utm_source=adaptivemailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=rel%20-%2022-03-22%20worship%20attendance&org=982&lvl=100&ite=9703&lea=2048393&ctr=0&par=1&trk=a0d3j0000112o9deae

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--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00-01:26 Why Youth Group Sermons Don't Do We Want them to do!v
01:26-06:10 The Best Youth Sermon Curriculum Scope in Existence
06:10-10:04 2 Things Your Youth Group Needs for Better Sermons
10:04-10:53 The #1 Thing Our Students Needc

✍️TRANSCRIPT
Try Transcribing for Yourself at Rev.Com
http://www.rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa

00:00:00:03 - 00:00:27:08
Nick Clason
Teaching in discipleship. Honestly, the core components of what we do in youth ministry. But what if you're teaching sucks? I mean, listen, like you probably think I'm here to sell you some sort of curriculum or something. That's not it, right? But what if what you're doing is not actually contributing to your students attending the way that you and, frankly, your boss want them to be attending?

00:00:27:09 - 00:00:47:11
Nick Clason
I mean, let's be honest. The entire reason that that youth ministry exists is because we want to help teach students about Jesus. Jesus taught us the aim. What we should be teaching our students is to love God and to love others. And so the goal of all youth ministry is be to help students grow in that love of God and love of others.

00:00:47:14 - 00:01:14:28
Nick Clason
So today I want to talk to you about, number one, a great scope and sequence for your teaching calendar for your students. However, the problem which we talked about in the video length right here is that 57% of regular church goers didn't go to church during the course of one month. And so we're going to talk in this video about the two key things that you actually need to address in your youth ministry and in your youth ministry space before you can even solve the attendance issues as it relates to teaching.

00:01:14:29 - 00:01:36:00
Nick Clason
And finally, I have the number one thing that you and I need to disciple our students. I think it's an ultimate game changer. Welcome to the hybrid ministry show. Welcome, everyone to the Hybrid Ministries show. My name is Nicholas and coming at you during the flex week in between Christmas and New Year. At least that's when I'm recording.

00:01:36:03 - 00:01:57:20
Nick Clason
I almost forgot my glasses. I don't have my watch on. I got my new Christmas mug that my five year old made for me at preschool. It's an amazing week, but we are still going strong in the 2024 Youth Ministry OnDemand Masterclass. You're going to want to make sure that you subscribe because we're going to lay out all of everything that I've ever learned in my 13 years of youth ministry experience.

00:01:57:20 - 00:02:14:15
Nick Clason
My name is Nick Clason, youth pastor now living and working in the DFW Dallas, Texas area. But when we talk about scope and sequence, one of my favorite resources of all time, I mean, it's so dated. I mean, just look at the graphic here. If you're not watching on YouTube, you can see it. If not, you'll just have to go check out the show notes.

00:02:14:15 - 00:02:33:09
Nick Clason
But it's called seven Check points for Students. It's written by Andy Stanley. And I think this is a really, like thorough and a really good swath of things that students need and should be learning as it pertains to what we teach them when they're in youth ministry. So some of those check point, some of those things are, number one, an authentic faith.

00:02:33:12 - 00:03:04:04
Nick Clason
Number two, spiritual disciplines. Number three, more boundaries. Number four, meaningful friendships. Number five, why is choices Number six, ultimate authority? And then finally, number seven, putting others first. I mean, if you want to try to poke holes in that like you may, there may be some things that you're like that's missing here, that's missing there. But like, if were to say love God, love others, you can almost go back through that, similar to what Jesus did with the 635 different commandments and put all of them into a classification of love, God love others, right?

00:03:04:04 - 00:03:23:04
Nick Clason
So like an authentic faith that we love God and spiritual disciplines, it's like love God and moral boundaries, a combination of the two. But I would probably put it in love. Others and meaningful friendships is also love others. But there's also a benefit to us in that as well, making wise choices about loving others and ultimate authority is probably about loving God and finally putting others first.

00:03:23:04 - 00:03:39:26
Nick Clason
Let's love others, right? And so if you break it down to those different categories, like if you just have those seven things sort of on your mind of like, okay, these are the main kind of core things that we want our students to learn. What I would do is I would kind of sprinkle those throughout the year, kind of kind of space them out.

00:03:39:26 - 00:04:06:25
Nick Clason
Right? And so I'll just give you a quick snapshot into what we're doing in our student ministry. You know, I'm not trying to say any sort of curriculum. I have a curriculum to sell you, but there are a ton of different resources out there. Why? I'm through 60 so series do you I am has series even have a new thing called co-leader if you haven't checked that out Collider does everything for you, not just your message content but also like your slides and your smog questions and your games and your content in your worship, like it does everything for you.

00:04:06:25 - 00:04:28:02
Nick Clason
It is, and it's much cheaper than some of the other content companies out there, like, say, like an XP three or like an orange. But if you have the budget, you might want to try them out too, because they have a lot of really good resources. So back in September, what we talked about is we actually led the year off starting a few weeks early in August, kind of more like the back to school around August 20th is when our students go back to school in Texas.

00:04:28:05 - 00:04:48:15
Nick Clason
And we did a three ways How to not ruin your school year. That was kind of like our focus and is basically like, if you don't connect with God, if you don't connect with us, if you're not in a small group, right, like those are some of the ways in which you can like ruin your school year. Then we moved on in October and we talked about Elephants In the Room is one of my favorite series that we did.

00:04:48:15 - 00:05:08:02
Nick Clason
We talked about racism and cheating and bullying and some of the bigger kind of like hot topic things. Like everyone know the label. If we don't really address them very often, Then we did a series called Gratitude or Gratitude is your typical Thanksgiving series doing did a Christmas series. And that's one of the tricky things about that's what the tricky things about the scope and sequence is.

00:05:08:02 - 00:05:30:00
Nick Clason
You only really get a few months and then you kind of into your like Thanksgiving and your Christmas kind of vibes. In January, we're doing a series called Kings, and it is exploring four different kings of Israel. We got David, we got Joe Joash, we got real boom and then we got Hezekiah. So everyone knows David, but the other three are a little bit less known and it's about how to make the most of the hand that you're dealt.

00:05:30:02 - 00:05:47:25
Nick Clason
In February, we're going to look at like a biblical literacy type of thing and basically teaching students how to navigate the Bible, how to read it, why it's important, why the Bible should have, you know, ultimate authority in your life. In March, we're going to do a Easter type series, and then we're going to end the year with Faith's biggest questions.

00:05:47:25 - 00:06:07:04
Nick Clason
And we're going to, again, kind of zero in and some more hotter topic type of things. And so that's how we laid out our scope in our sequence. If you look back at any Stanleys, like some of them tie in there, some of them don't, you know, But at the end of the day, like we're trying to give our students a good understanding of how to love God and how to love others.

00:06:07:04 - 00:06:28:21
Nick Clason
But the problem is that we've all been trying to navigate what do we do when our students don't show up to hear what we have to teach them? So what do we do about this attendance conundrum? People are attending church less and less, especially post pandemic. And so I think there really like two things that we need to try and create in our student ministry.

00:06:28:21 - 00:06:48:15
Nick Clason
And these things actually have nothing to do with teaching. But if we create these things, they will enhance our teaching. And the first one is this Students need a place to belong. It's no longer if you build it, they will come. I worked at a large church in Cincinnati. Eric Geiger, who is now the lead pastor at a manchester.

00:06:48:19 - 00:07:08:24
Nick Clason
He was a youth pastor there, and they built the space that I inherited for Eric Geiger. I don't think he ever made it into that building during his tenure there, but there were people that that grew up in Eric's youth ministry, and they said that like that youth ministry was the talk of the town and everyone like to come in and play billiards.

00:07:08:24 - 00:07:30:21
Nick Clason
And so I inherited so many billiards tables and you know, that that's like ultimately a curse because you can't actually move those things. And so that was sort of under the mindset that like if we build it, if we have this thing, they will come. But I think now it's shifting in a more and more digital sort of way, a more digital sort of mindset.

00:07:30:21 - 00:07:51:04
Nick Clason
I think students and teenagers are more thinking like, if my friends are here, then I'll show up, has and listen, you should still do a good job, you should still focus, you should still plan, you should still prep. But I think far less of that has to do anything with what you produce, what you put out there, what your programing and more.

00:07:51:06 - 00:08:12:20
Nick Clason
Are we creating a place for students to belong? I it doesn't really sound very spiritual and no amount of prep on your message is really going to help create some of that. Right? But that really is, I think, the crux of where we find ourselves. That's the first one. The second thing is that students need to have ownership and they will stick and they will stay attached to youth ministry, especially the older they get.

00:08:12:20 - 00:08:36:03
Nick Clason
And once they start getting keys and driver's license and cars, if they feel a sense of ownership of what's going on in our youth ministry. And so for teaching right to be good, you need students to find a place to belong. And you also want to help them find an opportunity to attach and be accessibly owning some of what your student ministry has to offer.

00:08:36:03 - 00:08:57:15
Nick Clason
So as far as your content goes, like you should, you should care about your scope and sequence, you should pray about it, you should think about it, you should pore over it. However, oftentimes that isn't what is keeping sticking and attracting students, right? As far as the content goes, you can preach more than just the one time a week that you live in the room with all of your students.

00:08:57:18 - 00:09:28:27
Nick Clason
Right? And that's why I would say I'd actually make the argument that I think the Internet is better for content delivery. Obviously, community ownership, serving prayer, some of those those are not better on the Internet, but content delivery and teaching can be done on the Internet. And so if students and if people are attending 57% not coming to church during the course of the month, then I want to I want to ask you to consider would you think about the idea of going hybrid?

00:09:28:27 - 00:09:49:09
Nick Clason
And when I say hybrid, I'm not just talking about only your online presence. I'm not just talking about only your in-person presence. I'm talking about a melding of the two. What can you produce? What can you put out there digitally? What kind of teaching content can you create? Can you do more podcasts? Can you do smaller bite sized social media, short type things?

00:09:49:11 - 00:10:14:04
Nick Clason
I have a fully laid out strategy right here linked down below in my completely free e-book, and that will help you be able to focus on the belonging and the ownership pieces and still deliver content. Because we need students to have content, We need students to learn things. We need students to be disabled. But the only way in which are disabled does not have to be live and in the room.

00:10:14:07 - 00:10:34:04
Nick Clason
So as I said at the beginning, what is the ultimate number one thing that we need from our students is this is we need to help create for them a meaningful attach statement to Jesus. And when you choose to go hybrid, you can offer all of this content, all the content that you want in the world, paired with a warm community.

00:10:34:04 - 00:10:59:01
Nick Clason
And that really is the best of both worlds. Your environment matters, which is why I think the way in which we approach programing and games is such a crucial component of youth ministry, especially in the face of this mental health crisis that we're all facing with teenagers helping students be able to laugh. And that video is linked right here on the screen because we're making digital discipleship not only easy, but also accessible.

00:10:59:01 - 00:11:02:28
Nick Clason
So as always, don't forget stay hybrid.

Episode 072: 🧑‍🚀 New Frontiers in Digital Discipleship for the Church: Message Enhancement 💬

Nick Clason — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 04:00:00 -0600

🔥SURE FIRE RESOURCES TO LEVEL UP YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA GAME 🔥

📅 "1 Month Done for You Social Media Posting Tool"
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book

☝️ONE-CLICK SOLUTION FOR REELS & SHORTS
OPUS FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361

🧑‍🚀 EXPLORING NEW FRONTIERS PLAYLIST
Exploring The New Way to Approach Ministry, Full Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaLQ3UpL1HRb3FFtEu-7S1XZ

========================================

DESCRIPTION
Preaching, Teaching and Youth Ministry
It’s part of what we do in the church.

You’ve also heard that this generation, according to crossrivertherapy.com has an attention span of just 8.25 seconds. Which is 4.25 seconds LESS than we experienced in the year 2000.

Famously, that’s less than a goldfish

But teaching and preaching the Bible, is not only an integral part of youth ministry, but learning the Bible is important to the discipleship and developmental process, not only in teenagers, but in anyone who claims to follow Jesus Christ as their savior.

So how do we take the Hybrid approach to teaching and preaching.
Hybrid is not just your physical gathering
But not ignoring it in favor of your digital experience, either.

It’s both.

In this episode we’ll explore the how to preach and teach to a TikTok Generation.
What we’re up against.

What we can learn from culture

And finally, 3 Hybrid Solutions you can implement THIS Wednesday night.

churchattendance #hiddentruth #unveiling #2023 #church #truth #revelation #faith #spirituality #religion #worship #community #christianity #belief #sunday #sacred #divine #belief #sermon #christian

========================================

🆓 FREEBIES 🆓
📅 "1 Month Done for You Social Media Posting Tool"
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book

😨 "Have I already Ruined my TikTok Account?"
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/ebook

📹 "Adobe Premiere Pro Presets for Animating Layers"
https://share.hsforms.com/1VL1oWwWwQ82PLwsPFkPITgnumis

========================================
🛠️TOOLS
Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products
//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit

AUTO POD
https://autopod.lemonsqueezy.com?aff=MX7Vv

TRY REV.COM FOR TRANSCRIBING
https://rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa

OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS

https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361

Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz

📓SHOWNOTES
//SHOWNOTES & TRANSCRIPTS
http://www.hybridministry.xyz/072

//View all the Charts and Graphs via YouTube
https://youtu.be/iIgEtxPLGBg

//Mr. Beast on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA

//Alex Hormozi
https://www.youtube.com/@AlexHormozi

//Steven Furtick
https://www.youtube.com/@stevenfurtick

//Research on Attention Spans
https://www.crossrivertherapy.com/average-human-attention-span
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/pdf/10.1152/advan.00109.2016

//My Youth Min by Ym360
https://myyouthmin.com/

//The Learning Triangle
https://www.educationcorner.com/the-learning-pyramid.html

//Solution #1
https://sidekick.tv/

//Solution #2
https://my.bible.com/events

//Solution #3
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit

🕰️TIMECODES
00:00-01:36 Preaching to the Generation with the Shortest Attention Span in History
01:36-03:33 Teaching, Preaching and Hybrid Ministry is vital to the next generation
03:33-11:15 Teaching to a TikTok Generation
11:15-15:46 What can youth pastors learn from culture?

15:46-21:39 3 Immediate Hybrid Solutions

✍️TRANSCRIPT
Try Transcribing for Yourself at Rev.Com
rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa

Nick Clason (00:00):
Preaching teaching and youth ministry, they go together. It's just part of what we do. But what do you do when you're trying to preach and teach to the generation with the shortest attention span of only 8.25 seconds? Famously, you've heard it's less now than a goldfish down 4.5 seconds from the year 2000. And is there a way for us to digitally enhance through hybrid means the way in which people learn and listen to our teaching and our preaching now in this generation because teaching and preaching is not only an integral part of youth ministry, but it's an integral part of the way in which we disciple our students and help them understand the claims, values and teachings of Jesus. So how do we take this hybrid approach, not just digital, not just in person, but melding of the two together to increase awareness and to help bring about a better retention of our teaching and our preaching to our students.

Nick Clason (01:08):
In this episode, we will answer how to preach and teach to a tick talk generation and what we as communicators are up against. Additionally, we'll explore what we can learn from the culture that's around us. And finally, I want to offer for you three hybrid solutions to help engage and increase teaching and preaching and awareness in your context that you can implement tomorrow. Welcome to the Hybrid Ministry Show. Well, hey everyone. Welcome back to another edition of the Hybrid Ministry Show. I, as always am your host Nick Clason. I'm a 13 year youth ministry veteran now currently located in the DFW Dallas Fort Worth area. Excited to be with you. I've been teaching and preaching my entire career, but I've also been engaging with the importance of hybrid ministry. I've been aware of that and aware of the digital revolution ever since I started in youth ministry, which is why we have this playlist right here linked at the top of the screen that you're a part of as we are exploring new digital frontiers.

Nick Clason (02:12):
The last video was all about games and how we can implement hybrid into our games and into the fun in our youth ministries. And this episode is about enhancing the messages. So I hope that you'll stick around to the very end of the video because in addition to that, I have a sure surefire resource linked in the description below. That's not only going to help you win on social media and bring about your messages and all those things to your students and help bring that to them the other hours of your week, but it'll also help you have fun with them like we talked about in the last video. And so I want to encourage you to I you to subscribe. Those things are free for you and they mean a lot to me, and I want you to do that because we do drop resources, like I just mentioned, 40 done for you, an entire month's worth of social media, but not just a bunch of graphics.

Nick Clason (03:04):
This is you actually getting in front of the camera, getting in front of a video, using yourself, your students, your leaders, whoever you want to help change the game on your social media platform. And so those types of things are coming at you every single week. We'll drop a new episode every single Thursday, so like subscribe, can't wait to see on the other side, but hey, we are going to be diving into teaching to a TikTok generation. Let's explore that together. So famously, this generation has an attention span of 8.25 seconds. It said that that is less than the household goldfish. So I don't know if any of you guys have gold fishes or teenagers in your house, but if you do, your teenager has a shorter attention span than a goldfish. What is going on nowadays though is the short form video revolution ushered into us by TikTok during the pandemic has changed the way in which we engage with content online.

Nick Clason (04:07):
It just has our attention spans are getting shorter. The need and relevance for a really, really crucial opening section of your video is what is going to determine if someone sticks around in your video or if they're going to leave. In fact, I want to share with you three examples from three very different classes and creators and just like different pockets of YouTube, but all three very good, three people who know what they're doing on social media. And I want to point out to you, we're going to watch 'em right here live on screen. I want to react to how well their hook and how well their intro does. So the first one up is a Mr. Beast video. So let's check this out together.

Nick Clason (04:54):
Hundred million mankind, okay? He's just taught, he's just B roll. He's got Justin Timberlake on there. Whoa, got those waves with his editing's great all the way to this barely functioning house, more of a shed. Well, why does this house cost a dollar? Yeah, we get another storm. It's probably going to, he's already into the content now of his video. He's only 38 seconds in. It feels like the intro. It just seamlessly moves straight into the content. Mr. Beast is probably the best at the opening ones. This one is more of a entrepreneur guy, guru trying to help you win online. So let's check out his video. This is my most brutally honest advice to my, you beat 99% of people zoomed out without media advice to my younger self and

Nick Clason (05:57):
How I, you're going to lose sleep. You'll doubt whether it'll work. You'll stress. He's catering to the difficulty of what he does and what the people that follow him need to do. He's got B roll, he's got light transitions, all that type of stuff. Great. Now this one right here, this is Churchill from Elevation Steven S check this one out sitting on that you're not using today. That's not the beginning of his sermon, but it's the beginning of this video. Arrows, you should have taken everything God gave you kept striking until you saw it to. They edited it so that it started there at what they considered to be the most interesting part, artillery to be defeated. It was his lack of drive. The reason I want to show all of you that is that the first 30 seconds or less of every single one of those videos, all very different, but all very good.

Nick Clason (06:56):
Everyone who edited that video knew exactly what they were doing. So I actually have a video that I just released on a platform called My Youth Men, which is a membership tier of YM 360. You can check it out, link in the description for a seven day free trial. But the video is about discipling students and teenagers through the usage pitfalls and platforms with cell phones as opposed to a way, and I show you those videos because I want to say that's what we as communicators are up against. Your students are watching those for entertainment, for fun, even maybe for inspiration with a Steven Furtick. And then you and I get up as their youth pastor and we start teaching at them in all of our old seminary taught ways. I think as I said in my video, that there are new ways of doing it.

Nick Clason (07:51):
In fact, this is a educator's tool. It's going to be up here on the screen. If you're listening to the podcast, make sure that you hit the link in the show notes so you can see everything on YouTube with all of our video overlays and all of our things flying in. But this is called the knowledge pyramid, and there are two sections to it. There's the passive teaching methods and then there's the participatory teaching methods. And most of us in church are using the passive teaching methods and the percentages are broken down by the knowledge retention rate. So how well this style of teaching helps people retain that type of teaching. And so the lowest at 5% is lecture based style. You might think 8.25 seconds is low, but I'm just going to admit to you, I am bored after a lecture after only 8.25 seconds.

Nick Clason (08:42):
You have to be really killing it, and I have to be really interested in that form of content. In the lecture style pyramid, 10% of the retention rate is reading, 20% is audio visual. So that would be something like including slides and or video in your teaching. And then 30% is demonstration. That's of the passive teaching style methods. So all of those things are all things that you've been taught probably in seminary of how to teach someone and how to maintain relevance as you teach someone. But then it shifts and at 50% a discussion group, a participatory teaching method is where that learning retention rate jumps up to 50%. If someone practices what they've learned by doing it, it jumps to 75% and then if they teach others, it jumps to 90%. So in most cases, us as youth pastors, we push our students through passive teaching methods, and then finally we get them into a discussion group As a participatory teaching method, discussion group is the lowest of the participatory section of retention, and that is why you and I as we are teaching, we need to differ at what we're doing. Look at what Mr. Beast did, how he looked at all the different houses, right? And he kept it moving. He was only on each house for just a few seconds. He was moving, he was garnering interest, he was keeping you hooked. Even look at fur, he's on the floor with arrows in hand doing his thing. Yeah, it was lecture style, but there's visuals to it. And in our youth ministries, more often than not, we're going to push people in to small groups, which is a relevant and meaningful participatory teaching method.

Nick Clason (10:32):
And so as we know and look at the different teaching pyramid styles, here is my question, what do we do? How do we infuse and use hybrid to help increase the retention rates of the learnings? Because you know that the message that you're teaching matters. It's a truth of God. It's a truth from God's word, and it's been put on your heart by him, and you're trying to help share that message with the students in which God has entrusted to you in your student ministry. So what do you do about it? I think that there are a couple of clues that we can learn from culture, even from some of those YouTube videos that we watch. And so that's what we're going to check out in the next section. Neil Bradbury has a quote. The link to that article is in the show notes. He says, the eight second myth, as he classifies it for attention spans is actually more related to human behavior on websites and on social media and how many seconds the average person spends on a website before clicking away or navigating off of it.

Nick Clason (11:39):
So we have famously dubbed Generation Z and Gen Alpha subsequently as the generation with the tension span lower than a goldfish. And that's true as it relates to social media and Mr. Beast and Alex Har Zi, and even Steven Fer and Elevation, they're trying to capture people's attention on social media. So they do have to make that happen within eight seconds. And we are up against that, I would say, as communicators because that's how students are spending a majority of their time. Gen Z's using their cell phone more than any other screen-based device combined. However, I want to point something out that is a website statistic. And so while that is true of websites, the attention span is a little bit longer because eight seconds is incredibly short. And check this out. Over the last however many years, these are the top five grossing box office movies of all time.

Nick Clason (12:35):
So in 2009, avatar came out, and I think it's even been supplanted by itself for the re-release or something like that, but Avatar, the movie is two hours and 42 minutes. Avengers End Game came out in 2019. Shout out to my favorite movie. I love you. 3000. It is three hours in one minute. I was nervous going into Avengers end game. I was like, I might have to pee. What do I do if I have to pee? And I did. Titanic in 1992 was three hours and 14 minutes. Star Wars episode seven, two hours and 18 minutes, and an Avengers Infinity War, the prequel to end game 2018, two hours and 29 minutes long. Movies are still making money, they're still making them, and they're still releasing them. Also, shout out to Disney for owning four of the top five of those properties. All that to be said though, if it weren't lucrative and if it weren't making money, Disney and the other major motion picture companies in America wouldn't be making movies at that length.

Nick Clason (13:43):
So what does that mean for us? We got this eight second thing, but now we got movies that are going longer than three hours. How do we reconcile the difference between those two? My contention is this, if it's good, people will pay attention. It's that simple. And here's the reality. Most research, including Ted Talk and that organization say that a sweet spot for lectures is anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes. That's optimal. However, if it's moving, if it's keeping attention, if it's changing things up, even just going back and watching Mr. Beast intro video, how if it's moving and adapting, you can keep the attention of your audience. But here's a gut check. If Avatar and Endgame and Star Wars and Titanic are keeping people's attention, but you're losing them after only eight seconds, then the gut check moment for you and I as youth pastors might be, we might be more boring than we think we are.

Nick Clason (14:46):
In fact, I've been recording videos on this YouTube channel for six months, eight months now, and that's been a gut check moment for me. When certain videos get less views, I'll go back, I'll look at the analytics and I'll go and re-listen to it myself. And you know what? I'll notice, man, I'm boring, right? I have to learn how to be more captivating. I have to learn how to be more interesting. I have to learn how to keep and retain my audience longer throughout the duration of my videos. Not only is that true for me as a communicator via YouTube via video to y'all, but it's also true for me as a youth pastor. But going back and looking, watching those videos, which by the way, if you are not prerecording your messages or recording them at all to go back and look and learn, you are missing out on the easiest way to become better as a communicator.

Nick Clason (15:31):
But there's another hack and there's another little silver bullet that's going to slide in here because we are going to be exploring three hybrid ideas in this digital frontier to enhance our messages in the room. Let's check it out. So what are these hybrid ideas? Like I said, it's not just physical. It's not just digital, but it's a melding of the two. So in my mind, you're teaching live in the room, but you're putting things on their cell phone or putting resources on their cell phone for them to use later because they're taking their cell phone with them for the other 165 hours beyond just the one hour that you've been in your program. And most of us as youth pastors, we're not good enough to contend with cell phones. So instead of contending with them, using them, leaning into them, we just forced them to lock them away or get rid of them.

Nick Clason (16:20):
But one of my favorite solutions from my favorite people over at Download Youth Ministry is sidekick. Check it out, sidekick TV link in the show notes. I get zero kickback from this, but I'm a power user and they just released or they're going to release and listen. I may be letting the cat out of the bag a little bit, but they're going to be releasing a polling feature. So you can put a QR code on the screen, students can scan it, and they can vote live time, and you can show it live from the stage. And better yet, you can now control sidekick from your phone or your iPad if you don't have a tech person running back in the back. And so you can do live interactive types of things to interact with your in-person and letting them use the digital means in front of them.

Nick Clason (17:08):
So you can ask like, Hey, what is the best Thanksgiving food? Is it stuffing mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, Turkey or ham? Let us know. Scan this QR code, and then you can get live results from your audience. You also, just like the learning pyramid showed, in addition to your lecture style, you need to be bringing visual aid with it. Use your screens, use your multimedia to your advantage. Use the things that are common to your students, like memes and tos. You can even pull out things like, Hey, show the most interesting photo from your last week in your camera roll. And one of my all time favorite ways to be hybrid is any sort of call to action, a camp, sign up, a discipleship, sign up. Even now, the sidekick voting thing use QR codes. They've had a resurgence since the pandemic, but people now can scan QR codes with just their camera app and their phone.

Nick Clason (18:02):
It will pull a link up and boom, you are off to the races. Use QR codes to your advantage. Use sidekick, use digital media, use your screens to interact and make things hybrid. The next idea that I have for you is you version events in our space, we call them digital notes. And so we link our YouVersion live events. If you didn't know, YouVersion is the Bible app made by Life church, but they have a events portion. And so what happens is if someone is in your church, it will pull geographically all the events that are live and they can get in there and there can be notes. Your main points scriptures you Additionally, my favorite reason for it is you can create call to action. So you can put your camp signup, you can put a Bible reading plan so they can be on the digital notes.

Nick Clason (19:01):
They can be taking notes in the space in your room as you're teaching, as you're preaching. And then at the end, you can be like, and hey, if you are learning right now and enjoying this message about prayer, but you want to grow even deeper into prayer, then I have a seven day prayer challenge plan linked in the you version, in the digital notes, whatever you want to call it. And kids can click it on their phone and write their sign up for a Bible reading plan. It's a way to help foster discipleship to lean into the hybrid, right? You taught something, but now by just having notes available to them on their phone, you can say, Hey, click accept, and start reading that plan. The third idea that I have for you is use YouTube and use social media. In fact, in the links down below, I have a couple of things, a less than $100 YouTube setup for you to start doing messages similar to this one right here where you're sitting direct to camera and posting your messages to YouTube.

Nick Clason (19:59):
If you have live streaming capabilities, then do that. But if you don't, as a youth pastor, I get it. I don't either sit down, prerecord your messages. In addition to that, you can use a service also linked in the description called Opus Pro to then take your long form and clip it into short form and give yourself a bunch of social media content for the week. And if you then need something to help fill in some of the other gaps, that's where my surefire resource, my ebook, my 40 done for you ideas comes in. And that message can live in perpetuity online as you help answer the specific faith questions of this next generation. It can be more than just for students who miss. It can be for parents to check it out. It can be for students who don't even go to your church.

Nick Clason (20:43):
It can be for students who go to your church to share messages with friends if they would never bring their friends to church, they can share a message on YouTube with their friends. And so those are my three ideas, sidekick in digital media, you versions, digital notes, and finally, utilize and use YouTube and social media to your advantage. The final piece of this playlist is we're going to be exploring and talking about how do we care for students in an ongoing type of way. We meet with them once a week, but then there's 167 hours. How can we, in a hybrid way care for the students pastorally in the ways in which God has entrusted to us? That video is linked right here on the screen. Make sure you check it out. We're making digital discipleship easy, possible and accessible. So as always, and don't forget, stay hybrid.

Episode 067: 🔮 The Future of Church Youth Ministry 🔮

Nick Clason — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 04:00:00 -0500

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📅 "1 Month Done for You Social Media Posting Tool"
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🎥LEVEL UP YOUR YOUTUBE GEAR FOR UNDER $100

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DESCRIPTION
⛪ In this episode of the Hybrid Ministry Show we want to explore the Future of Youth Ministry in the Local Church.
We’re going to lean into the idea, and namesake of our show, and truly unpack the idea of: “Hybrid Ministry”

😡 Additionally, I’m going to answer the question: Does God Hate Social Media?

👌 And give you 3 Practical Tips that you can begin implementing into your student ministry space: TODAY

🔓The Church needs to unlock & unleash the next generation.
They are the church of now.
And Gone are the days of the one-size-fits all approaches to youth ministries.

🎨 It’s about learning and finding where youth people are, embracing diversity and creativity.

🆓 FREEBIES 🆓
📅 "1 Month Done for You Social Media Posting Tool"
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book

😨 "Have I already Ruined my TikTok Account?"
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/ebook

📹 "Adobe Premiere Pro Presets for Animating Layers"

https://share.hsforms.com/1VL1oWwWwQ82PLwsPFkPITgnumis

🛠️TOOLS
Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products
//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit

AUTO POD
https://autopod.lemonsqueezy.com?aff=MX7Vv

TRY REV.COM FOR TRANSCRIBING
https://rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa

OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS

https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361

👉 STAY CONNECTED
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick

Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz

📓SHOWNOTES
//SHOWNOTES & TRANSCRIPTS
http://www.hybridministry.xyz/067

//BRACKETS
https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/the-big-game-food-bracket/winter/the-big-game-8544.html
https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/world%27s-greatest-donut/games/food-8745.html
https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/the-student-ministry-bracket-of-epic-things/games-3974.html

//SCULPT IT
https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/sculpt-it/games/humor-8503.html

//SOCIAL CHALLENGE PLAYLIST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNYRk3l4M-4&list=PL_FbsNmRvDjempodvm_5FsqwakX6OidCd

//SPIRITUAL RESOURCES
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/l6cp97ufmwn8gfpfkxbte/h?rlkey=s5hb09c6d6x1u9iqcdz5j1aya&dl=0

//DUCK, DUCK, TRIVIA

https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/duck-duck-trivia/trivia-8705.html

🕰️TIMECODES
00:00-02:03 The Future of Church Youth Ministry
02:03-09:08 What does Hybrid Ministry mean?
09:08-17:29 The Biblical Basis for Digital Expressions of Church
17:29-29:48 3 Ways to Invest in your Online Presence

29:48-36:25 The Challenge of a Strong Digital Presence

✍️TRANSCRIPT
Try Transcribing for Yourself at Rev.Com
rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa

Nick Clason (00:00):
In this episode, we are going to be exploring the question, does God hate us using social media? We're also going to be looking at unpacking and exploring and talking about the future of the church and the future of youth ministry. And finally, we are going to help lean into this idea of hybrid ministry. What is it? How do we implement it? What are the downsides of it? And lastly, we are going to offer three practical tips to help you win in your church and in your student ministry. And as always, there will be game ideas because that's just a part of the thing. The church is at this crossroads where they need to look at unlock and unleash the next generation because the next generation is the church of today, not the church of the future. Gone are the days of the one size fits all youth ministries, and so we need to help explore and unlock for you what's going to work in your context.

Nick Clason (01:03):
It's about us learning diversity, creativity, and leaning into the individuality of each and every one of our students, and to help do that, to help lean into the creativity. This is why I believe that the digital space is such a great opportunity for us. In fact, I have a done for you resource if you are just kind of floundering and have no idea where to go, and that's what we talked about in this video that's going to be linked right here at the top of the screen, TikTok versus Instagram versus YouTube because we are going to help you navigate the best social media to go all in on your context as well as give you a free ebook that's linked right down here below in the description to help you navigate social media for your church and for your student ministry. But without any further ado, let's dive into this episode, the future of the church, the future of youth ministry, and what exactly is hybrid ministry.

Nick Clason (02:02):
Let's go. Well, hey everyone. Welcome to the Hybrid Ministry Show. If you and I haven't had a chance to meet yet, my name is Nick Clason. I am a almost 13 year youth ministry veteran, currently living and working in the D F W Dallas-Fort Worth area. And I am on a mission to help churches and youth ministries realize their potential for what they can do with digital ministry and in the digital space. In fact, that's why I have this entire podcast, this entire YouTube channel. In fact, if you didn't know, we are a podcast, so you can check out the show notes for link to our full transcripts@hybridministry.xyz, but you might be asking what even is hybrid ministry? What even does that mean? And it's a little bit of a made up word I would say, but the idea of a hybrid thing, I think about it as a football fan. Think about Teem Hill of the New Orleans Saints, right? He's a hybrid style player. He can play,

Nick Clason (02:59):
He can get under center, he can snap the ball and throw it, but he's also got some kind of tight end skills, some kind of H back type skills. Or as an old timey Colts fan, Dallas Clark was a great hybrid or H back style of player. He didn't fit into a one size fits all mold. And that's really my heart behind what I think hybrid ministry is another really great example. I've used it before, so if you're a long time listener, you've maybe heard it, but the idea of Home Depot when I am a customer, I am a customer of Home Depot and so if on any given Saturday I'm just feeling Super dad and I want to throw on my cargo shorts and my new balance shoes and just go peruse the aisles of Home Depot, I can do that. I can experience Home Depot in a physical sense.

Nick Clason (03:47):
However, at the same time, if I don't have time to do that and I just want to place an order online, I can jump on their app and I can do that as well. But the third option is probably my favorite is a hybrid relationship with Home Depot where I grab my cell phone, I download their app while I'm in the store, I search for the thing I need, it tells me the exact aisle and bay number and location of my thing and I can walk straight there. I have a digital relationship with Home Depot while I am physically in the store at the physical location. And I think in a lot of cases that's the way that our churches need to start just thinking about because in a lot of times, especially with Covid, we did not have the physical as an option. And so we all moved to digital and it was an amazing opportunity.

Nick Clason (04:41):
I think a lot of churches learned a lot. I think a lot of churches are still doing things now as a result of what happened during the pandemic, but now as restrictions have lifted and people have gone more and more back into church on a regular basis, churches have been like that stunk. Let's go back to what we know and there is so much value in what can happen in an interpersonal relationship. Please, I want you to hear that from me. I want you to know my heart, but I also believe that, I mean, you know this right there are 168 hours per week in any given week, but most churches really only focus on the one or two hours that you have a programmed scheduled event. It's like the evening news or it's, it's like sitcom appointment television. If you want to know what's going on in this series, then you better be here at 10:30 AM and that's the only time that you're ever going to know what we're talking about.

Nick Clason (05:37):
And honestly, let's be honest, churches, that is a really selfish and kind of vain approach. The only way for people to grow is to make your thing appointment calendaring in their life, and that's just not the world that we live in anymore. You're going to have people do that and because you do have some people do that, you think everybody should adopt that approach. Meanwhile, there are people who do want to grow in their faith and do want to have a relationship with you and your church. However, their schedule may not allow for it. Like I know this coming Saturday we are hosting a national day of youth ministry volunteer training by D Y M, shout out d y m, but the problem is my boys have their very first game of T-ball and so unfortunately my wife can't, as a super rockstar volunteer that she is, she's not going to be able to make a portion of that training.

Nick Clason (06:29):
Does that mean that she doesn't care about youth ministry and teenagers and her role in our church? Not at all. She's busy. She's got something else going on and so we always have to think and accommodate for that. And I think a lot of times churches are just like, you need to prioritize this. And that's true. Hearing me say that I believe that our people need to prioritize the things of God. However, I also believe that we are now in a time and in a space in 2023 and beyond where we can offer things to people that they can consume, that they can learn, that they can come to understand, that they can gather teachings about the importance of what our church is doing, what our church is offering in a hybrid type of moment. They have an in-person relationship with our church, but they can lean into the digital and I think a lot of churches are approaching digital as the outreach arm and that's really all it does.

Nick Clason (07:24):
And then once you've come and decided to commit to the church, then you have to shift to completely in person. And I just want to tell you, I don't live that way. I got a speeding ticket last week. It was awful. I was going way too fast in zone. That should have been a much faster speed limit, but it's a speed trap. And after paying a $346 yesterday, I had the option to call to go in person or to go online to remedy that. Guess which option I chose? Just like all of you, I chose the online option. If there's a way to do it where it can be more convenient and it doesn't hinder the relationship, and I think that's what we need to do. So hybrid, it's not just about in-person or it's not just about digital. It's about finding a way to marry those two environments so that people can have a holistic and much more robust relationship with your church.

Nick Clason (08:24):
Hey, listen, I hope you're getting value out of this video and we're going to continue on and we have all kinds of other videos like this, and so it would be incredible if you hit the subscribe button so that you get notified every single time we drop a video like this and listen, it costs you nothing but a really does help us out. So if you would like this video and maybe even share this along with a friend or someone else that you know who's a youth pastor or a church communications person because we are on a mission to help churches lean into the hybrid side of their ministry. But let's move on. Let's answer next question. Does God hate social media and what is there if, is there a biblical basis for leaning into digital and hybrid ministry? Let's check it out. So I know a lot of pastors, I know a lot of people, I know a lot of leaders who encourage people to lean away from digital media, social media as a means of discipleship and a means of growth.

Nick Clason (09:23):
And I think in a lot of cases that that's really a healthy practice for a lot of people. I think with unfettered, unfiltered access to just doom scrolling social media time and time and time and time and time again, which I actually didn't mean to turn. Oh look, there's me. I didn't mean to turn my phone on doing that, but when people just do that over and over and over again, I know that it is not healthy. There are some definite downfalls and some definite payrolls to doing that. However, I also know that I need this thing to keep track of my calendar. I need that thing to read email. I need that thing to track my receipts. I need that thing to get me somewhere in a turn by turn. G P SS navigation system. That thing right there is where my wife and Mike's grocery list lives.

Nick Clason (10:14):
It lives in a digital format on our phone that we both have access to like a shared list. And so this thing is going nowhere. And so instead of just coaching people to throw it in the fire and be done with it, while that may be what some people need to do, I think we also need to begin to think about how can we help coach people through having a cell phone? Yes, there are bad and evil things on cell phones. If you have a teenage boy, a teenage girl, the pitfalls of pornography and what is available to them in their pocket at any given moment is dangerous. However, that's not going anywhere for them and unless mom and dad want to rip that away from them, they are going to have a cell phone. So how do we help them walk through and wade through the difficulties of that reality while also realizing that in many cases this is a necessary commodity for most people in America in 2023 and beyond?

Nick Clason (11:22):
I do actually believe that the Bible speaks about this and one of my favorite kind of passages of it, obviously it's not directly talking about cell phones and digital media because that didn't exist, but the principle I do believe exists. So in Jeremiah chapter 29, which is everyone's favorite bookstore, Bible verse Jeremiah 29 11, we're going to read it here in just a second, but actually starting in verse five is where we're going to start reading so that you for perhaps the first time in your life can get to hear Jeremiah 29 11 in its full context. But Jeremiah is writing to the Babylonian people who are in exile in, or I'm sorry, he's running to the Jewish people who are in exile in Babylon. So God's people are in a foreign land and he addresses their concerns. Here's what he says. I want you to build homes.

Nick Clason (12:16):
I want you to plan to stay. I want you to plant gardens, eat the food that they produce, marry and have children, and then find spouses for them so that they may have many grandchildren. Multiply, don't dwindle away and work for the peace and the prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare and it will determine then ultimately your welfare. Verse eight says, this is what the Lord of the heavens armies, the God of Israel says, do not let your prophets and fortune tellers, tellers who are with you in Babylon trick you do not listen to their dreams because they're telling you lies in my name. I have not sent them, says the Lord. This is what the Lord says. You'll be in Babylon for 70 years, but then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised and I will bring you home again for I know the plans.

Nick Clason (13:11):
Here it is, guys. Verse 11, for I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, the plans for good, not for disaster. To give you a future and hope. I think that what God is basically saying in this verse is he's saying, invest in the place in which I have placed you. And he's saying, embrace the things of the land, of the place of the climate, of the context of which I have placed you and to the Jewish people that meant plant gardens, intermarry, have children, have grandchildren, pray for the prosperity of Babylon because that will determine and dictate the prosperity of you and your life. And in a lot of the same ways, I believe that technology is the opportunity for us to enter into a digital landscape and a digital Babylon, so to speak. And so we have the chance to lean into it.

Nick Clason (14:01):
We have the chance to go towards what the people of our day are using and navigating, and we have the chance to redeem it. We have the chance to bring light into it. We have the chance to sprinkle in and even more than just sprinkle, but fully embrace and bring the great message of hope of the gospel into a digital and hybrid space. And most of the times, the pastors that I have interacted with are saying cell phones are bad and evil because most people have really bad habits with it. And so they're saying, so just don't do it. You don't need it. You don't need a digital Bible. Go get your paper Bible. I'm just saying, listen, if you're a youth pastor and you're ministering to a 13 year old who just got a new cell phone, that's really not going to play very well to them.

Nick Clason (14:50):
I'm not saying that we should just cater to people. Discipleship is difficult and often we get the root word discipline from it, and so it's going to require some hard and difficult conversations. But all that being said, we are not going to successfully push people away from it and just I, listen, I get it just because, oh, well, should we cater to bad habits? Absolutely not. But there's a lot of good that can happen on here. Right now, I play fantasy football through my cell phone because of fantasy football. I have connections with people that I have worked with in the past, my family who lives in three continents on this globe. We play fantasy football together and we connect through this. My church staff right now, we have 30 people on our church staff playing fantasy football that I am help kind of spearheading and leading, and that's helping bring about some comradery among our staff.

Nick Clason (15:47):
I read the Bible this morning on the Bible app through a plan that I subscribe to on my phone a lot of times when I don't have, and I read that on my iPad, and if I don't have my iPad, I will read it on my phone. One of my favorite apps on here is the Bible verse memory app, right? My point is that there's a lot of good that can happen through this, and I think we a lot of times want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. So let's lean in. Let's teach people how to navigate and make wise decisions and choices as they interact with digital and cell phone media. So the question that you're probably asking then if you're youth pastor, church communications person, is how do I invest in an online presence? What do I do? And I want to let you know before we dive into that, that if any of this is interesting to you, if any of this is ringing a bell, any of this is perking your interest that we have a website, hybridministry.xyz, and this episode is episode 67.

Nick Clason (16:48):
So if you go to hybridministry.xyz slash 0 6 7 link is also down below in the description along with my 43 ideas for how to lean into digital ministry. You can get full transcripts. That's one thing that we provide completely for free in every single episode in case you're out on a run and you're hearing this and you're like, dude, I need some of that. I need to take some notes and filter some of my thoughts around some of what we're listening to in this episode. Great, we got that for you. Link in the description, hybridministry.xyz/067, but let's explore and let's answer and tackle this question. How do you invest into your online presence? I have three ideas for you to help invest more into your online presence. One idea is just up your game in your social media and your digital media presence.

Nick Clason (17:41):
And so that can be all kinds of different things like your social media. Does that mean that your church or your student ministry has a pop Instagram account? I mean maybe, or is it that you launch a relevant YouTube channel maybe? Or is it that you're surfing on the TikTok trends out there on that app? TikTok could be, but whatever it is, there is an opportunity to weave in social media not only to your church attenders, but also to people out there in the world who don't know anything about you, your church or your student ministry. But my ultimate number one recommendation, especially if you're in youth ministry, and if not I still recommend this for a lot of churches, is YouTube. And what I actually have is a link in the description for how you can launch and start a YouTube channel for under $100, which by the way in 2023 is completely unheard of.

Nick Clason (18:33):
So you should definitely get in on that. But what it's going to do is it's going to help you utilize and start a channel simply using your cell phone upping and leveling up your game with some microphone gear and maybe some basic lighting to just get the ball rolling so that you can have a YouTube channel. And the reason why I believe YouTube is such a strong contender is especially if you're a youth pastor, 95% of teenagers claim to use and utilize YouTube. Meanwhile, people are getting on there and think about it, how do you engage and interact with YouTube? You probably hopped on there recently and said, how do I fix this clogged sink in my guest bathroom? Right? People are getting on there and asking specific questions, and while you may be trying to figure out how to unclog your sink, a 13 year old might be saying, why does God send good people like my grandmother to hell?

Nick Clason (19:27):
And you as a youth pastor have an opportunity to address and answer that particular and specific question. Now, tell me that that's not an amazing opportunity. We posted a video on our church's social media, our church's YouTube, the beginning of the school year called How to Ruin Your School Year. I think maybe we did the opposite of it, how to Not Ruin Your School Year, and it got like 150 views, and our audience is really not that big on YouTube. And I mean we have at least 150 students on our role and on our roster, but I know that not all of our students are subscribed to our YouTube are even really paying attention to our YouTube. So those 150 views did not all come from our students. My question is, would you like an opportunity as a youth pastor to have greater kingdom impact than you have currently right now in your local physical context?

Nick Clason (20:21):
Maybe the answer is no, but I would wonder why the answer to that would be no. Sure, you can't nuance and go as deep, dude, that was like a 12 minute video. I had enough ability to flesh things out and flesh out ideas and explain things fully and thoroughly that you might have to leave on the cutting room floor of say, a more short form vertical video-based TikTok or YouTube short or something like that. There is opportunity really there is out there to answer specific questions of teenagers. And YouTube is powered by Google the number one largest search engine of the world, and people consider YouTube to be the second largest search engine in the world. So put answers to the questions that people are going to the second largest search engine in the world in there, trying to get answers to big matters of faith and existential realities.

Nick Clason (21:15):
You have a chance to do that. And like I said, link in the description down here that will help you get your YouTube channel up the ground with just a minimal amount of gear talking head just like this video into a cell phone camera. The other idea, the third idea that I have for you are some hybrid based games if you're in youth ministry, the value of games. But one of my favorite things we do is brackets. So if March madness style, if you're a sports person, you got 64 teams, we'll do a 16 team bracket, we'll rank things kind of arbitrarily with our own sort of value-based ranking system. We have a platypus mascot in our student ministry and that was voted on competing against 16 other animals. So we had a yak and we had a lamb, which was a 16 seed, which almost won and upset the number one seed a lion.

Nick Clason (22:11):
We had a baboon on there, and what ultimately won was the platypus. I think that's the generation of Finn. And for talking one of my favorite brackets, I actually have a couple on download youth ministry. I'll put the link to those in descriptions if you want to go check 'em out or create your own. But we will do a Super Bowl food or big game day food bracket so that students can self-select what foods, what snacks are going to be at the Super Bowl party, and just a couple of weeks at the time of this recording. So probably by the time this drops, it'll be happening live. Feel free to go check it out at Cross Creek students. That's all of our handles on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, but we are going to be launching the world's greatest donut bracket, and it's going to be students selecting the world's greatest donut.

Nick Clason (22:58):
Here's the cool thing though. We just paid for, I don't know, a couple hundred dollars banner to be installed in one of our walls that we can reuse and replicate every single time we run a bracket. We'll probably do two or three of these a year where we can hang it in our physical space. So as students walk in, they'll see it, but then the push is for them to jump on Instagram and cast their vote, jump on social media and let it be known what they're going to be voting for. And so that's a way to be hybrid. We're talking about it, announcing it and making it a big deal in our physical space, and we're giving students even a chance to vote physically on a piece of paper, but then we're also pushing it towards digital media. Those things get a ton of traction in our context.

Nick Clason (23:47):
People talk about it, especially on staff people like which one won? How did you rank that one that it incites a little bit of faux riot. Okay. Another thing is we will do a lot of, we'll do some things called social challenges. I'll link the playlist that we do on that YouTube, but we will grab a couple of students every single Wednesday night, film them on camera, and then post that to YouTube. We'll clip it up into a short, and that'll be something that we can post on shorts as well, but that gives students a chance to compete in certain challenges or taskmaster type challenges. Again, that's a way to use the students in your physical space and promote and pump them up on your digital platforms. And other things you can do game wise is just create some sort of contest where there's a drawing contest or a sculpture contest or a dancing contest or whatever.

Nick Clason (24:42):
You can post those on social media and let people vote, cast their vote. Did you like A or B better, right? Like gingerbread houses or we'll do Plato sculpture things. I have a game on D y M called Sculpt It, and then we've done before. It's really fun. But we post all those on social media and then we let people cast their vote for the winner, and then the next time we get together the next week or that following Sunday, we'll give away a prize to the winning team or the winning table for their contribution in that game. Those are just ways to marry your in-person with your online and make it more hybrid. Make it last beyond the one hour a week that you have your students in your student ministry. Another idea, so that's just upping your digital presence game. And hey, like I said, link in the description for 40 ideas, 40 done for you ideas in vertical, vertical video based content like TikTok, YouTube shorts, Instagram reels that you can start adopting now.

Nick Clason (25:39):
And all of those ideas, by the way, are ideas that are recyclable. So for example, you can use the same, I just posted a game. We're calling it telepathy, but you can name it whatever you want to name it. I got it from some guys on YouTube shorts who call it wavelength, but one guy's thinking of a number and another guy's asking him for certain categories of things. So like the one I just posted, they asked for candy sport, clothing brand and day of the week, and then you give an item that is that number that's in your head. So my buddy was thinking of number three, and she said, candy, and he said, black licorice, which I think it's probably lower than a three if you ask me, but that's just me. And then she said, okay, how about sport? And he said, golf.

Nick Clason (26:23):
And then she said, okay, how about sport or athletic wear? And he said, new balance. And then she said, how about day of the week? And he said, Tuesday, she guessed that the number was four, but it was really three in his head, right? That's just a fun game. You can do a little bit of post-production editing if you want, even if you have no editing skills, you can do most of that on your cell phone to make that happen. By the way, I have a complete ebook, another one on how to post a TikTok from scratch. I'll also link that down below in the description. But all these are ways for you to just start taking steps to up your game and your social media. All right, the other idea, what about, so that's digital presence. What about web access, right? Is your website up to date?

Nick Clason (27:03):
That's all I'm asking. Is your website up to date? And there's this idea, do we push info to people or do we ask them to pull it for themselves? And I believe that we should do both, but I believe that you can push info, but people should always know that the answer to every single one of their questions lies on the website. So yes, send that Tuesday email reminding them about the fundraiser coming up on Saturday, but let them know that in the email, Hey, all this info is available on our website so that when Friday night rolls around and the mom and dad are thinking about how to get their kids where they need to go on Saturday, and they know that one of the kids is going to the fundraiser at church, they have to figure out where they are, what time they have to drop them off.

Nick Clason (27:46):
They don't have to go dig back through their email that they've gotten 125 other spam emails between Tuesday and Friday night. They can just go straight to your website. Is your church website up to date? Listen, people live in an on demand world. They're not relying on your email to give them the information that they need. They want to be informed, but then they also, they want to know or to go to get what they need information wise. So make sure your website is up to date. And then the third hybrid idea I have are just simply like individual tools. I'll link a few of these in the description down below. But in our student ministry, like I said, we did a video called Three Ways to Ruin Your School Year, and it was basically don't connect with God. And so in the reverse, we gave them three connections with God ideas, memorizing scripture, reading the Bible, and spending time in prayer.

Nick Clason (28:46):
And we created just a downloadable resource for them to use and utilize on their phone. It also pointed them and push them towards apps or YouVersion, Bible reading plans. So if you want to see some of those, you can check those out. But those are just ideas of things that you can help put in your student's hand. You can print physical copies if you want. You can also offer a digital version of it on your website or in an email download. And if you have an actual communications marketing department, you can put those behind Handshake websites where people have to put their name and email in, and you can use that to start building lists and things like that, which is a really good marketing practice. But if you don't want to know how to do that and you don't have a communications department, you can just put free resources on your website for people to grab, however and whenever.

Nick Clason (29:35):
But what about the challenge? What is difficult about doing this? I hear you on the other side of this video. Don't have time. No way I can do this. Great. We're going to address that in the next section. Look, I get it. This is a lot. And as I'm explaining this, you're like, bro, I don't have time to do any of this. I know it's a lot of work. In fact, there's a tension, an inherent tension that will lie when you choose to enter into a hybrid space. The best example I have is the church I worked at before here. I started out on the very first day of Covid. I don't recommend that as a strategy, but I dunno how any of you can avoid that if you're taking a new job. But because I started on the first day of Covid, the very first thing that I did that we did, that our church did, that our student ministry did was launch a YouTube channel.

Nick Clason (30:23):
Well, they already had a YouTube channel, but launch a YouTube show. We called it unscripted and most churches during Covid, it was a in-person programming, youth ministry replacement. And dude, it was innovative. It was one of a kind. I really did not see a lot of other churches doing a full on show direct to camera, not just camera in the back of the room. There was a lot of power behind it. There was a lot of creative team members, videographers, contractors that were working on it. But then, as you know, slowly covid started to kind of wind down in-person, became more and more of a thing, and we started having more and more students back on campus and back in the room, but unscripted didn't go anywhere. In fact, we wanted to let unscripted serve as the small group teaching element, teaching moment in multiple in-person small group meetings in various host home locations throughout the city that lent itself better for geography.

Nick Clason (31:33):
We were in a mega church, and so a lot of people drove many, many miles to our church. And so we could put houses 20 minutes away from the campus, but closer to where students lived. We could also offer groups on multiple days of the week as students are super, super duper busy. It was a really, really, and because Covid had ushered us into this moment, it allowed us the chance to sort of rethink and reinvent how we disseminated our teaching and got the Bible into the hands of our small group leaders and into the hands of our children. But more and more people were clamoring for on-campus stuff, especially in light of Covid. And so this tension between is this good for the show? Is this good for online? Is this good for YouTube versus is this what's best for in the room? Became this tension and ultimately became insurmountable to the point where the show got canceled.

Nick Clason (32:25):
Now, the downside, the real thing, the real rub you got to answer is we have kids sitting right in front of us every single week. Is YouTube the best strategy for those kids? That's probably got to be your number one priority, but the challenge is that there's going to be a tension between the online and the in-person constantly. And it's going to be so easy when it feels so insurmountable that you just say, forget it. I can't worry about the online anymore. I just got to focus on the in-person. And I don't necessarily have a formula or an answer for you, but what I do know is that there were some times where we did some things where we faced a challenge and we were tempted to just be like, you know what? Forget it. That's not the priority here. And we said, no, no, no, no, we're not going to do that.

Nick Clason (33:19):
We're going to lean in and we're going to figure this thing out. And so one of my favorite things, in fact, I have a game that sort of tried to mimic it. It's not as good though because it's not like a full on show with our youth pastors and our personalities, but it's called Duck Duck Trivia, and it's where you play duck, duck goose in a circle. But in the meantime, there's a trivia game happening on the screen. I have it on D y m, but we did a version of it with our show. And anytime you heard a squeak with one of the rubber ducks that we had, people had to get up and play duck, duck goose in the room while also paying attention to the screen and playing trivia. I created a sheet, a downloadable note sheet for them to keep track of and take notes of.

Nick Clason (33:59):
The point I'm making with all that is that there was a way to win in the room and win online, and it was epic. You know what I mean? But you got to spend more time and you got to think outside the box. You can't just throw a four corners game on the screen and be like, that's going to crush on YouTube. It just might not. The other challenge of it is just going to be a time constraints challenge, right? Digital media, video editing, graphic design soaks up a lot of time. And if you're a lone ranger, if you're a one man band, if you're doing this on your own, bro, I get it, you're going to be spending a lot of time on it. Again, the temptation is going to be to just throw it out, throw the baby out with the bath water, don't need it anymore.

Nick Clason (34:42):
But if you lean into it, you can find some good on the other side of the mountain there. The fact is, you just have to value it. Your church has to value it. Your supervisor has to value you spending your time on it and notice and point out and know that it is making a difference, even if it's not seen and felt immediately right away. And that's the, that's the third shadow side. You have to determine your win with this because the payoff for digital is not immediate. And you have to answer questions like, is this to reach outsiders? Is this to serve and help mature our insiders? What is the real reason behind this? But here's my thing, because of what Jeremiah said in Jeremiah chapter 29, I do believe we should invest in where we are. So I think out of this video, I'd love to encourage you, I'd even love to hear from you, comment below, but what's one next action step that you're going to take today?

Nick Clason (35:33):
Maybe it's just like, you know what? I'm going to stop just only posting announcement graphics to my Instagram. I'm going to start leaning in a little bit to an Instagram strategy. Maybe it's I'm going to launch a YouTube channel. Hit that link in description, a hundred dollars, YouTube starter kit, whatever the case might be, what is going to be your next step, but just start now. But listen, remember, grab my surefire resource 40 done for you ideas to help you just navigate this link in the description or in the show notes, hybridministry.xyz, and right here, this is why every single church needs a strong digital presence. I flesh it out, I explain it. I give you my strategy in this video. It's linked right here on the screen. Go check that out or go check out this YouTube playlist video teaching you how to start your YouTube channel from scratch. But we're trying to make digital ministry accessible, reachable possible, so don't forget, and as always, stay hybrid.

Episode 054: What is Hybrid Ministry? A Celebration!!

Nick Clason — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 04:00:00 -0500

Watch the Video on our YouTube Channel:
https://youtu.be/uZzatZ4KFyE

Hang out on TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick

ShowNotes & Transcripts:
http://www.hybridministry.xyz/054

Instagram:
http://www.instagram.com/hybridministry

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https://share.hsforms.com/1VL1oWwWwQ82PLwsPFkPITgnumis

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SHOWNOTES
Why should churches even care about Digital Ministry in 2023?
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/031
VIDEO: Why should churches even care about Digital Ministry in 2023?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9rdO5laIUM
VIDEO: Have I already Ruined My Church's TikTok Account?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxBn-p9O-eg
BARNA EBOOK:
https://shop.barna.com/products/6-questions-about-the-future-of-the-hybrid-church-experience
Episode 001:
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/001
BRACKET: https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/world%27s-greatest-donut/games/food-8745.htmlBRACKET
BRACKET #2: https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/the-big-game-food-bracket/winter/the-big-game-8544.html

TIMECODES
00:00-02:46 Intro
02:46-06:43 A Brief One-Year History
06:43-10:03 Year One Podcast Stats
10:03-19:27 What is Hybrid Ministry?
19:27-20:41 Outro

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:02):
Hey everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Hybrid Ministry Show. I am your host, as always, Nick Clason sipping my coffee in my office today out of my, uh, church branded Yeti. I will say this, though, not a big Yeti fan as a coffee connoisseur because the metallic taste of it overrides the notes of coffee. So honestly, I would prefer just drinking out of like one of these types of mugs. So you're not on YouTube, you're not seeing all this. You are missing out big time, not probably really, but we are gonna take a little bit of a break. The last two episodes were, uh, video editing episodes. The, the episode after this one will be a Photoshop specific episode. But the reason that we're taking a little break is because our pilot episode on July 19th, um, and our episode one on July 21st was exactly one year ago from the day that this episode drops, which is July 20th.

Nick Clason (01:04):
So in this episode, we are just going to do, uh, talk about what is hybrid ministry like, the whole basis, the whole, like per the whole name of this podcast is named Hybrid ministry. What is it? Where did it come from? Why do we start this podcast? Do a little year in review, sort of deal. So that's what's on the docket for today. Hey, listen, if you are new here or if you are just finding us out, wanna let you know in the show notes. You can find links to YouTube, links to our website, hybrid ministry.xyz. Uh, this will be episode 55. Every single episode will have a link to our episode page, which has a full transcript. That's something that we provide for you all for a hundred percent free. So go check that out. Also, just follow us on social. We're on Instagram, we're on YouTube, and we are on TikTok.

Nick Clason (01:48):
All the links to those in the show notes, because some of those are my personal account at Clay and Nick. Others of those are ministry based accounts, a hybrid ministry. It's one of those too as an option, but your show notes will have everything that you need. In addition to that, we have a couple freebies right now. We have our free ebook, um, helping you download and get TikTok going completely from scratch. And then we also have free Adobe, uh, pro, uh, transitions that you can use to animate text, to animate videos, um, bounce in like your typical YouTube thing. So go grab those in the show notes and we would love it if you would give us a rating or review or subscribe or a, like, all those things help us get found in search so that more people can learn and know about the difference and the ministry that hybrid is going to make in their world and in their ministry.

Nick Clason (02:39):
So, without any further ado, let's jump in to the one year celebration episode. Glad to have y'all here. So, like I said, today is the day that this episode drops is July 20th. July 20th is the one year anniversary. You know, when I started this podcast, I had a cohost, his name is Matt, um, and Matt is, uh, one of the smartest marketing brains I've ever met. He used to work for, dare to Share if you're in the ministry world, you've probably heard that before. Uh, they're youth ministry, evangelism centric organization. Then he came to work at the same church that I was working at in Chicago land area. And when we were both working in Chicago land, we started this podcast together. Both of us within the first probably like 10 episodes, um, transitioned to different roles for, for different reasons. And one reason or another, um, I ended up here in dfw, Dallas, Fort Worth, Texas area.

Nick Clason (03:30):
Matt went back out to Colorado, which is home, um, working for a non-church non ministry organization. And because of that, his his ability to record podcasts fell by the wayside. And I became a one man band. And I remember I was moving here, moving to Dallas on the road somewhere in Nowheresville, Oklahoma. And I turned on Colin Cowherd cause I was like, that dude can talk for three hours by himself. And I found that the hardest thing to do. My first episode I recorded it was like 14 minutes. And I was like, how in the world am I gonna do a podcast by myself? Like, this is gonna be mentally exhausting and in a way it is. Don't get me wrong. Um, so that's why I I recruited a co-host to start cuz it's a lot easier to just have a conversation and talk. That being said, I started listening to Colin Coward cuz I saw the writing a little bit on the wall, and I was like, how is he doing this?

Nick Clason (04:24):
What are his kind of tips and tactics? So I tried to lean in and learn some of those things so that if my co-host fell by the wayside, I would still be able to give y'all a podcast. And, uh, I think around episode 11 or 12, I started doing them by myself. And then, um, I would still reference Matt as, you know, a like member of the podcast, but eventually I just stopped and it just became this, the Solo Nick Clason show. So here you go. If you're, if you're new and you want to go back to some of those early episodes, you will hear another voice that is my good friend Matt Johnson. Still great friends, just, you know, he doesn't have time to to record. He's a new dad, new life out in Colorado, just like we're building a new life here in Dallas, Texas area.

Nick Clason (05:08):
And so, um, and I never missed a week, um, from when I started until now. We've had a lot of life happen. We moved, um, my wife's mom passed away, my mother-in-law. Um, we went back, you know, had to drive a thousand miles back overnight to get there. Um, when that happened, it wasn't, um, emergent, but it also wasn't totally on the radar when we moved here. One of the reasons we moved here was hoping that she could come live with us, um, you know, fighting her cancer diagnosis. Um, but some things progressed faster than we anticipated. And, and all that happened and I started a new job and I'm getting to know a new church and I'm getting, you know, my kids enrolled in a new school. So a lot of new for us. Um, but thank you for being along on the ride with me because in my new role, I am focusing a lot on digital integration and hybrid ministry.

Nick Clason (06:00):
And this podcast is a cathartic outlet for me to talk about what I'm doing. In a lot of episodes, I've told you, here's what I'm doing right now, here's how it's going, and here's the adjustments that I'm making. And while I would be doing those things internally in my head, forcing myself to sit down and explain it to an audience has just been so helpful. And so thank y'all for being along the ride with me. Like I, I've told you before, I always want this to be a place where I can just be open and honest. So that is a little bit of just kinda like the brief one year history of where we are. Um, and in, in an attempt to continue to look back just a little bit, I want to give you guys a couple of recap type stats. So let's dive into this.

Nick Clason (06:44):
All right. So to recap, um, back in December, December was our best downloaded month to date. But then January beat December and then February, beat January and then March, beat February. So they just kept kind of building on itself and then may came and may beat all of those. April took a little bit of a, uh, backseat, um, or I'm sorry, may took a little bit of a backseat to April. Um, April was still the highest. So it, it was like a stair-stepping in December, January, February, March, April, may took a little dip. And then now, uh, I'm recording this in June. Um, it will drop in July and so, um, July might be completely different, but June has far surpassed every month we've ever even had. So to those of y'all who are new, those of y'all who are downloading us on a regular basis, welcome, glad to have you, glad to see you.

Nick Clason (07:35):
It's exciting to be along on the journey. Um, glad to have you with us. The highest downloaded episode ever in the history of this podcast is episode 31. I'll drop a link to that in the show notes if you wanna go back and listen to it. But we are gonna do just a little bit of a recap of that here in this episode. The episode's titled, why Should Churches Even Care About Digital Ministry in 20, I think I probably recorded it in 2023 or 2022, I should say. So I probably said, why should churches care about digital ministry in 2022? Um, consequently, and I don't think that this has any correlation, but consequently, that was also our very first episode that we started posting full, um, video episodes on YouTube as well. So you can go check out my very first YouTube video if you wanna laugh and see how bad it is, I think, and hope we've gotten better.

Nick Clason (08:23):
But, um, you know, no promises. I'm not like a professional YouTube editor. Uh, I'm a youth pastor, so I'm doing this all in the margins, all in my spare time. And so, um, there could be more on the horizon, you know? Um, but right now it's just kinda, uh, slugging it out. That does not count. However, our very first episode on YouTube, which was the, have I already ruined my church's TikTok account. It's a video and podcast joint episode that I posted, uh, where we, we released the free ebook, um, with a link to that and the show notes. And so, um, that was literally walking through step-by-step nerding out on how to post a video on your cell phone using the TikTok TikTok app. Now, I will give a caveat and a disclaimer. I'll drop the episode link to that as well in the show notes, but I wanna let you know that I posted that in December.

Nick Clason (09:12):
And so just like any sort of tech things have changed. And so it may not even be a hundred percent relevant. The the overall premise is right, like a lot of TikTok is the same, but there are still some things that have shifted and even personally some strategy things on my end that have shifted as well. So think you all for being along on the journey. Those are, um, just some kind of recaps. This is our, like I said, our one year anniversary episode. But without any further ado, this is really what I want to get into is I wanna like bring everyone, y'all on the audience level back to the roots of why we do what we do and what this is what, where this all started from. So without any further ado, let's answer this question. What is hybrid ministry? Okay, what is high ministry?

Nick Clason (10:06):
So back in July last year when we launched podcasts, this idea had been rolling around in my brain for a couple months and, um, I was kicking around ideas of names. The name I settled on was hybrid. I also liked integration. Um, but, but hybrid was really like the one that I thought was really cool. Well, lo and behold, after I decided that name, Barna released an ebook about the future of the hybrid church. And so almost at the same time I launched a podcast or at least started recording bef before I had a few episodes kind of in the hopper before we ever went fully live. Um, and then Barna also released their ebook 40 or some, some, I can't remember. I'll drop the link to the Barna ebook in, in the show notes. It's behind a paywall, but it's worth it. It's a, it's a little over a year old now at this point, but I still go back to and pull a lot of data from it cuz what they're asking, coming out of the heels of C O V I D, they're asking what do millennials and Gen Z, what are they looking for in church?

Nick Clason (11:10):
Uh, another thing I've done in the last year is I went through a Gen Z Barna CoLab thing. Um, it was a six session zoom thing where they shared some findings about Gen Z, which they are the future generation of our church and our church ministry. And so it's important, I think to, to inspect what these generations are saying. And so, um, 9%, only 9% of churched Christians back when this, um, hybrid ebook dropped 9% of church Christians, um, wanted a solely digital church option. Okay? And so I think my question, and I remember I had Matt on here, was like, well, well then why are we even exploring this as digital ministry? Aren't we on the other side of covid? Shouldn't we go back to what we remember and how things were? The difference was one third of them expressed that some sort of, um, hybrid option would suit them well, and that was only in those that they pulled and that was only in those old enough to be pulled.

Nick Clason (12:19):
So 18 and older at the time. All right, meanwhile, millennials and Gen Z, if you take out just that kind of sub subset of of age demographic, take out some of the older church attenders that were also pulled in this ebook. Millennials and Gen Z are ju this is, this one was the one that got me and this is the one that like really thrust me into starting this podcast. Millennials and Gen Z are just as likely to choose a hybrid option as they are a physical option at 40% for millennials and 42% for Generation Z. So they are just as likely just as interested in a hybrid option as they are in a physical option. And I hear you on the other end, but wait, it's not the same. We all saw it in Covid and yes, that's true. And this was one of the conversations that me and Matt had way early on, and it's that this churches in Covid tried to replicate an in-person experience and a digital option.

Nick Clason (13:16):
And a physical option should be two uniquely different experiences. I hear you again, but wait, I don't have time to produce that and I get that it's challenging for sure. I'm on a student ministry staff of three, soon to be four. We're about to have a year long resident who I've worked with before. So we have a little bit of a history, know what he can bring to the table. All that to be said, I dedicate, I don't know, probably 75% or more of my job responsibilities to digital integration and hybrid ministry. There's more that I wish and want to be able to do, but I, I also don't have the time crunch. But what I say is on your staffing level and on your staffing side, it's really important to make sure that you give someone proper allocation of funds and time, ability to, uh, to go this direction because the, the younger that generations are, the more that this is going to be necessary.

Nick Clason (14:14):
And we're not trying to replace the physical. That's my whole point. That's where the word hybrid comes from. We're not trying to replace the physical, we're trying to integrate digital with physical, right? One of my favorite examples of it in our student ministry is we'll do these like two or three times a year. We'll do these, uh, brackets where we pit two things against each other and, and they vote and the winner goes on to the next round and they face off against the winner of another matchup. And so we'll come up with kind of these like arbitrary seatings or whatever. Um, I'll drop a couple links in the show notes cuz I've done a few of these and I've posted 'em on like download youth ministry, so you can grab it. We've got like world's greatest or um, uh, big game day bracket food challenge.

Nick Clason (14:55):
So you're picking like the food that you're gonna have at like your Super Bowl party. But that's a great example of a hybrid option because all of the voting takes place online on a website or, or in our case, a lot of times on Instagram, but in person it's also like playing it itself out. So this last year we did serial madness in March, and so we pitted serial matchups against each other. And so we had all the, the matchups up on a big, uh, window that we have with like a bracket taped out. And then we cut out the front of the serial boxes and po uh, pasted like a seed number on each of them. And then as they would win online, we'd move them into our space. So the students would walk in, they'd see the results, but then on Wednesday nights we have these garage door, uh, like bay type things.

Nick Clason (15:42):
And so we have eight different bays. And so that's eight different matchups for a round of 16. And the base came up and every individual matchup, uh, of cereal was in the base. So they could go in, they could grab the one seed versus 16 seed, put a little milk in it and eat it. That's an example of taking a digital expression, a digital like moment and means of something and bringing it in to make it hybrid with your in-person. Okay, back in the first episode, we talked about digital openness. And so I just wanna rattle off for you some of these, um, findings from, from the first book. So church adults defined as having high digital openness. Number one, they see the value of attending at least an online service. Number two, they think that churches should use digital resources for spiritual formation slash discipleship purposes.

Nick Clason (16:33):
Post pandemic, they think that churches, uh, should use digital resources for gathering their people to together after the pandemic. They say that either hybrids, so both digital and physical or primarily digital gatherings for church will best fit their lifestyle after the pandemic. And number five, they're open to attending new kinds of online gatherings that are unfamiliar. What are mold breaking? So these are people that are classified as digitally open. Furthermore, of these options, these were the options that they said would, um, suit them in a hybrid sort of format. So teaching and preaching one-on-one prayer, small groups, worship, prayer, visitation, confession, children's ministry, youth ministry, adult ministry. Those were, um, highest percentage down to lowest percentage in a cascading list. The thing that was the number one thing was teaching and preaching. So here's the thing, churches have gathered together to preach and hear the word, and that's, that's valuable and scriptural.

Nick Clason (17:34):
That being said, um, I, I can learn just as well. Um, whether I'm sitting my butt in a, a seat looking ahead, listening to a pastor as I can, listening to him on the podcast, what can't be reproduced, what can't be replicated in my own experience is praise and worship. Which again, I think that there may be a moment for, uh, figuring out how this works for the next generation in a non, uh, like physical environment. Not replacing it, but supplementing it. But the thing that can't be replaced for me is community one-on-one relationships, like authentic community with other believers. And some of those things can be done digitally. Zoom groups. We all saw that it leaves something to be desired. I agree if that's what you're saying to me on the other side of this camera. However, all that to be said, like the, the teaching pieces can be something that we can offer to people.

Nick Clason (18:27):
It's the number one, it was the number one rated thing for hybrid options, the delivery of content. CS Lewis has a quote that says, this says theology is all the more important today because there are so many messages being delivered to the home that you need to determine what is actually true. So you can go into one of these mediums and you can present the word, you can give theology, you can teach people theology in podcast form, YouTube videos, short form videos. Lewis made this quote in the 1950s and it rings all the more true today. That's the crazy thing, right? Is like what he said back in the fifties still brings true almost 80 years later. So because there's so many messages coming into the home, we need to help teach people what the Bible says. So I say all that to say, and I give you all of that as just a reminder that this is why this matters.

Nick Clason (19:22):
Hybrid ministry matters as an option for churches moving forward. And so, um, I just wanted to give a quick reminder. I just wanted to share it with y'all about, um, why we do what we do, where this whole thing comes from and what the purpose of it all is. Thanks for hanging out. Excited to have you with us. Don't forget link in the show notes. If you want to, uh, go follow us on YouTube. If you want to grab either of those freebies, uh, downloads, we're gonna be starting here in this next year. We're gonna be starting, um, getting our email newsletter going. And so subscribe in and grabbing the ebook or the, um, free transitions for Adobe Premiere Pro. Either one of those will lock you into our email newsletter. We're gonna start sending some stuff out occasionally. And so one, make sure that you don't miss that. Hey, if you subscribe to this, you will get this automatically downloaded into your podcast catcher every single Thursday morning at 4:00 AM So if you're in ministry and you have a Wednesday night deal, you wake up, you get to hear this the next morning after your ministry night. Hopefully it's just a, a positive encouraging, maybe even sometimes challenging refresher for you. Uh, so we would welcome that and love to have you join us in that way. But don't forget, and as always, stay hybrid.

Episode 032: The YouTube Trends Report and What Churches need to do about it for 2023 and Beyond

Nick Clason — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 04:00:00 -0600

In this episode, Nick combs through the 2022 YouTube Culture Trends report and dissects interesting things that YouTube discovered. To add onto that, we discuss what the digital and hybrid ministry implications should be for churches as they move deeper into 2023 and the future.

How does the church shift the way it approaches ministry, not to diminsh or downplay the unchangable truths or things of Scripture, but to best set them up for relevance with Gen Z, Millenials and the next Generation of Church attenders? Listen or watch to find out!

SHOWNOTES
YouTube Trends Report: https://www.youtube.com/trends/report/
Nick on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9pjecCnd8FVFCenWharf2g
Nick on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Nick's Podcast: https://www.hybridministry.xyz
Full Transcript of this Show: https://www.hybridministry.xyz/032

TIMECODES
00:00-00:54 Intro
00:54-03:27 2022 YouTube Trends Report
03:27-06:22 What does all of this mean?
06:22-11:35 The Pop Culture Formation Formula
11:35-18:07 Creating Community Creativity
18:07-23:11 Multi Format Creativity
23:11-25:18 Response Creativity
25:18-28:26 The Future Exists in Dialogue of Digital Communities
28:26-32:09 The Digital and Hybrid Implications for the church moving into 2023
32:09-34:18 Outro

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:03):
Well, what is up everybody? Welcome to another episode of the Hybrid Ministry podcast, and now on YouTube. Excited to be with you all. We're gonna test out a couple of video options here. See how these go. I know it'll go fine. Mostly I'm testing to see how much extra work it's gonna be. But would love to have you join us over there if you want to check out for video stream as well. Something that is just another option. So we have audio, we have video, um, but everything, the home base for it is hybridministry.xyz of course, cuz hybridministry.com was taken. So I'm your host, Nick Clason, excited to be with you. And in today's episode, what I actually wanted to discuss was this idea of why should churches even care about digital and hybrid ministry? Like what is the purpose?

Nick Clason (01:03):
We all saw the pitfalls downfalls and the reasons why digital ministry was not a good example. Um, it was not a good thing, um, during Covid. And so we are now past Covid. We're able to live in a more semi-normal world. Why in the world should churches even care about digital? So let's go ahead and let's get this episode underway. So let's talk about some assumptions, right? Like, I think that there are some general social media specific assumptions that say that social media is void of relationship, right? Like, the point of it is, I, I I don't know, right? Like the point of it is maybe to to post, uh, post some announcements, um, and try and drum up some external, some marketing, um, marketing, so to speak, uh, examples of people who might not go to our church and we want to get them connected to our church.

Nick Clason (02:08):
But there's an assumption that like the real, the main thing that's gonna work is gonna be relationships of people to people inviting one another. Let me just say that, um, I've been doing student ministry social media now for 12 years, and never once has anyone of the accounts that I've ever run really gone viral, so to speak. Like we've never had more than like an inordinate amount of followers, never had more like a thousand followers. I have had a couple Instagram accounts with more than a thousand followers, but honestly like, that was not from anything that I, or we were doing. That was more an inherited thing where the Instagram account already had a high level of followers and we were just sort of like the beneficiaries of that account already having a lot of followers. So my point is nothing we did really drummed up a lot of outside interest.

Nick Clason (03:03):
Okay. And so this assumption that social media is not relationship based and you know, the purpose of it is to, you know, get people from the outside looking in. Yeah, I mean, yeah, that is, I think that's, I think that's a benefit. I think that, um, like we said in the last episode, the church is in a unique intersection where what you post can be both discovered by the people that go to your church, but also because of the new discovery algorithms, which this is probably why in my 12 years we haven't seen this, because these new algorithms that are being made famous by TikTok and then adopted by Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube on reels and shorts are, um, new. Like this is a new territory for churches because previously your people followed your pages and your accounts, and if you wanted more people to follow it, you had to pay for it.

Nick Clason (03:52):
And I've, I have never done that. And so my accounts never really did that, where there were like a lot of people coming to discover our accounts. And so now we are in a unique intersection where people might actually discover your church. And what's more interesting is that all of these algorithms, there's a uniqueness where they start out geographically local. So first the algorithm from what we've learned is they're pumped out to your followers, which are then pumped out to their followers, which are then pumped out to the, uh, like your geographical region, which is why a lot of times you can geotag your posts on Instagram, on TikTok, and so you can put your city, and so the people in your city might be exposed to your information first, and then beyond that it'll, you know, go to the state and viral and whatever the case might be.

Nick Clason (04:44):
But, but the reality is, the, the closer that you are, the more likely that the people around you are gonna find it. And so therefore, if people in your geographical region are discovering your videos, there is an actual chance that they might hear the message of Jesus from you and then take a step to become a visitor or a first timer at your church. I mean, wouldn't that be amazing? Wouldn't that, wouldn't that be one of the goals that we're looking for here? Um, and again, like I said, I haven't experienced that in a lot of cases, and I think that's because that really wasn't an option up here until very recently. Um, however, there's still the argument that like, no one's gonna come to our church based off of that. And that might be true. And I think that it depends on your style of church, if you're, um, a more of an outreach centric church that you want that.

Nick Clason (05:34):
And so you're gonna be more gung-ho about this idea. And if you're more of a discipleship centric church, which tends to be a little more inward facing, um, not because you believe that that's more valuable and more important, but that just tends to be the vibe, um, that comes with it, then you are gonna prioritize some of those relationships more over, um, like, like cold leads or, or, you know, top of a funnel marketing type of terminology to borrow from the secular world. So, um, all that to be said, there's this assumption, there's this notion that social media, um, and social ministry is void of real relationships. And I would just, I would debunk that and say that I think that that's not entirely true. Um, I agree to a point that it can be done that way and, um, that, that this ministry, that this focus in your church needs some very particular and very, um, deliberate attention.

Nick Clason (06:34):
Like it cannot just, in my personal opinion, it cannot be put on autopilot anymore. It cannot be put on the back burner. There needs to be a person more than a volunteer and more than someone's like, uh, section of their full-time hours devoted to social media. Like you probably need a full-on person, um, not someone to do double duty. Like, like even right now, um, I am a youth pastor, but I'm like on a team of three and of the three, I'm the one tasked with digital and video and social media, website, whatever, right? Like that in and of itself is a full-time job. And sometimes my youth ministry duties have actually, like, you know, this week I had to make calls to interview students about baptism, um, and we're onboarding a bunch of new students to volunteer. Like sometimes those things feel like they're in the way of my digital stuff and that, that's out of balance for me personally.

Nick Clason (07:34):
Um, but that's my point in saying that this digital of it's all consuming, it just takes up such a gigantic portion and it it is vast and it is huge. And, um, and there's a lot of opportunity and there's a lot of potential. And so to just dump it on someone as like a, hey, 10 hours of your week, like it's, that is so hard. It's gonna be very difficult for that person to be able to, you know, to make, to make, uh, that 10 hours work for them the way that you're probably hoping that it would work. So in Covid, right, we learned that we're not built to be completely isolated. And so just social, um, and that's, that's the whole, that's the whole origin of this podcast is I felt like we were debating, um, when I started this podcast in late 2022, I guess mid 2022, um, we were debating between in-person ministry and digital ministry, especially where I was, we had, we were still working and operating out of a lot of the rules that we had built for C O V with the show that we had made for C O V D.

Nick Clason (08:38):
Like, we hadn't let that go. We were still producing it weekly. Um, and we had found a way to pivot from strictly online to a more in-person model where groups watched it in host homes. Um, and then they discussed the, the message afterwards. And I thought it was incredibly ingenious and innovative. Um, but there were a lot of people in our church that that didn't, and they were ready to just quote unquote go back. And, you know, we had a, a marketing guy, and if you listen to some of our first, I think like seven episodes, um, Matt was actually the co-host of this podcast. Uh, we both made cross-country moves. And, um, I, I don't know what happened to him. I never got him back, really. I mean, we still talk, but he would keep saying like, yeah, yeah, I just gotta get my computer set up, gotta get my computer set up.

Nick Clason (09:22):
And eventually I was like, all right, Matt's not getting his computer set up. I'm just, I I got a produce weekly episode, so I can't wait on him anymore, right? So, uh, here we are and I'm just kinda doing this thing. Anyway, besides point Matt marketing, honestly, genius guru in my opinion. He said, the world we live in is now hybrid. In fact, Barna did a study, we did a couple episodes on it, I'll link to them in the show notes, um, did a couple episodes on the findings that we found from Barna study, and they, they titled it the, the state of hybrid church or something like that. And what it said, what it found was that especially the younger generations, the generations that are going to be filling our pews and churches here in the next couple years, gen Z and millennials said a hybrid, um, version of church is going to suit them very well.

Nick Clason (10:11):
What that often scares us with on two fronts is, number one, it feels like we're shifting away from in person. And I think a lot of times in person, and I've talked about this multiple times, I think a lot of times in person, room or moment or feeling is for the, the vanity of the pastor, and not even in like a sinful or bad way, but just like, man, getting up in front of a room full of people feels really good and you feel like you feel like you've done something and you've been somewhere and there's, there's a shot of like adrenaline into your like arm every time you get up there to preach. Even I, I find myself like finding more value from preaching to a live room of, of humans with interaction, um, like just, you know, face-to-face interaction. Um, then I, then I do from a, a TikTok video that goes viral wave over like 3000 something views.

Nick Clason (11:02):
Like, it just, it doesn't feel the same. And I get it. And you know what? I don't know that it is the same. I think you have a much more captive audience, even in a room of a few hundred than you do, um, with a, a short form under 62nd video that that has over a thousand something views, right? All that to be said, I'm not proposing that, that you throw one quote unquote baby out with a bathwater. We live in a hybrid world, right? So I found this stat incredibly fascinating. 76% of American surveyed ha uh, have a friend that they've met online only they've never met in person. Right? Now, you might be thinking, how is that possible? Again, if you're older, think younger generations gaming and, and you know, chat rooms and whatever and whatnot. Like of course in the nineties chat rooms were pedophiles want to hang out, and they probably still do, right?

Nick Clason (11:55):
But, but 76% of Americans have a friend in some way, shape or form gaming social media that they've never met in person. Like I have an anecdotal real example. I have a friend named Dan that, um, for the first three to six months of our life, or not life of our relationship life, , uh, it was strictly online. Uh, many of you know I've told this story, but I started at my last church on day one of Covid and went immediately into lockdown. So the number of real live human beings at my church that I met was very, very small. The number of real life human beings that I met on Zoom after that was very, very large. And, um, you know, I had met a decent number of the staff, at least from my interview or on my first day on the job, but then to meet other people.

Nick Clason (12:49):
And Dan was a, just a regular church attender volunteer who led a, a hybrid, not hybrid, actually strictly online small group. I had a relationship with Dan. Um, and, and he even said, he's like, you are like the poster child for me, or the poster example of what it looks like for somebody who, uh, says like, you can't make friends with someone online. He's like, we totally made friends, you know, with each other online. And so these are examples, both empirical data. 76% of Americans say, I have a friend with someone who's completely online. And even in my own life, like I would say I had a real relationship with him, um, it would've been great to be sitting in the same living room or whatever, but at the same time, you know what, every Tuesday night, I just got my laptop out in the comfort of my own home brew, a cup of my own coffee that I personally enjoyed more than like a cake cup that someone was gonna gimme at their house.

Nick Clason (13:49):
And we sat down for small group. And you know, what was funny was like our church would do this thing where like you'd watch the live stream on YouTube, and this was the archetype for our student ministry. The group's team of course, stole it, but we'd watch the video on YouTube, and then everyone would log in to their campus specific zooms via a link in the description, and then a moderator there would break everyone out into breakout rooms. So they would sort of have control over the entire call, and then they would give a warning after like an hour or so that all the groups would, uh, be, be closing down by the moderator who's just literally sitting there out in the waiting room, just kinda waiting for people to be kicked out of their breakout rooms and reassign them or whatever. Super boring job I've done a million times youth ministry.

Nick Clason (14:33):
Uh, so a couple times those ended and we, our entire small group just jumped off and got into our very own room, and had group until like 11 or 12. We weren't, you know, at that point we weren't talking about spiritual stuff. We were just joking around, goofing off, having fun, whatever, right? My point is, relationships can exist in an online space. You just have to be deliberate. You just have to be intentional, and you have to be able, willing, willing to massage those relationships. So let's talk about, um, some hybrid ways that relationships can exist.

Nick Clason (15:14):
So some of you might know this, um, but a couple weeks ago, my, my wife's mom, my mother-in-law, uh, passed away from a two plus year long battle with cancer. It was, it was rough, man, like, not gonna lie, but, um, the thing I wanna kind of extract or highlight is the moment that the day that she passed away and that it became more public because of social media. Again, another example, um, my phone was flooded with text messages. My wife's phone was flooded like threefold, tenfold with text messages. Um, every single one of those people were people that we had met in person at one moment in time or another, whether they be a family member, whether they'd be a friend, whether they'd be a former colleague or work associate from another job that we'd been at. They'd all been people we'd met in real life person before.

Nick Clason (16:12):
However, the relationship at that moment existed in a hybrid space. Very few people in that exact moment were with us. I mean, I, I had to drive from Texas all the way back to Ohio, so the only people with me were me and my two kids. Um, and her, she was with her sister and with some family friends, and then everybody else reached out and provided love and care and support via text message that that is an example of a hybrid relationship. You know what I mean? Um, and, and some people were people that I work with now at the church I'm at at now. Other people were people I worked, worked with in the past that reached out either way, right? Like they're all people I knew, but they're all showing up for me in a hybrid way. So, uh, I wanna talk about a few, uh, examples of like other businesses that we might interact with in the world in with hybrid sort of interactions.

Nick Clason (17:22):
Let's dive in examples of real life hybrid interactions. My favorite of this is Home Depot, right? I interact with Home Depot at the store level. I drive up, I go into the store, I grab 98 cents of plumbing tape, right? Uh, that's an example of me interacting with Home Depot at a physical level. Okay? All right. So another example of course is me interacting with Home Depot at an online level. I might go on the website and I might see how much of a certain item is in stock that, but I'm not in the store. I'm completely in my house. I'm looking at all my computer on the app, but the, the app actually is my favorite feature. When I'm in the store. I almost never, like, if I walk around in the store for like more than two minutes and I can't figure out where an item might be, I immediately pull up the app, which often I've uninstalled from my phone, so I reinstall it.

Nick Clason (18:25):
Then I like, almost, the first thing I do when I walk into Home Depot is begin to reinstall the Home Depot app, find my local Home Depot, the one I'm physically standing in, and then I look that item up, whatever it is, to try and find it, and then it'll tell me exactly where it is, what aisle, what bay, and how many more they have in stock. I love that feature. That's hybrid. I'm in person, I'm in the store, but I'm interacting with a digital piece of technology, uh, you know, for my relationship with Home Depot. Another o another example is a dentist office, right? You go to a physical visit. But I love when a service like this has a great website, especially for being able to book appointments or being able to reach out. This last week, I brought my car to an auto mechanic shop.

Nick Clason (19:13):
I called them, not there, called them, right? That's an example of me from my house calling them. That's old school technology. You get it right? Then I show up, I'm in their office. But then when I was done, you know what they did? They sent me a text message to let me know that my car was ready. You see all these things, and I, I think like in a lot of ways, like when we talk about digitization or hybridization of church and of ministry, we don't even know what that looks like. So right now, in a lot of ways that's social media, that's video content, but the reality is like, some of this is uncharted territory. So for 2023, for right now, for someone just starting out, what are some examples? What are some ways that your church can live and exist in hybrid ministry?

Nick Clason (20:01):
All right, so like I said, I think a little bit of this is like pioneering uncharted territory, pilgrim's progress. Like, we don't know some of these answers, but, um, what are some examples of ways that your church can, uh, live and and be hybrid? So the first one is probably the most obvious one, and probably the easiest one, I would say is your Sunday sermon. Okay? So what are ways that your Sunday sermon can exist in a hybrid space? Well, first and foremost, right? You can, while someone is sitting in the auditorium, they can interact with and engage with your sermon notes, or they can interact and engage with, um, some self-guided like outlines or ways for them to take notes. So, like in my church, my pastor puts his notes on our church app. Um, it's honestly, it's essentially probably the manuscript that he's up there preaching with as I've looked at it.

Nick Clason (20:58):
Like, it's very thorough. Um, and my guess is that that's like a, that's a workload decision, right? Like he already built this. So if he just copy, if, if they or someone just copy and paste and put this into the app, uh, that's not that much more work for him. My personal favorite example is the you version events feature. So in everyone's you version Bible app that most people have downloaded on their phones, if not, definitely recommend it. Cause again, it's another way to interact with people in a hybrid way. Um, there's an events tab that you can create, like a self-guided sort of outline, and then people can, can take and add notes to certain headers or certain bible verses, um, that, that are related to or interact with the passage. And then they can also link out to like videos or other, like further discussions.

Nick Clason (21:51):
One of the things I try to do is I try to challenge myself to add one option of a, a link out from a u version event for deeper study or for more information, or for a longer YouTube video that I didn't, you know, didn't have time to show or didn't have time to look like fully, you know, unpack. I try to challenge myself to do that every week. Again, to just think hybrid, right? Brady Shearer has made this phrase famous, but the other, the additional 167 hours of somebody's week. So then beyond that moment, beyond that Sunday service, um, you can of course rip out the audio. Um, if you're already live streaming, um, you can have live stream, you can post those videos to YouTube. You can, uh, long form podcast content on a podcast feed. That's a way for it to be hybrid.

Nick Clason (22:45):
And then finally, ways for that to live on and, and find its way into that, that intersection of your church, people being reminded of the message and people from outside your church may be discovering and stumbling upon your message are short form Instagram reels, TikTok videos, YouTube shorts. Um, if you're already live streaming your content, you're sitting on a goldmine of social media content. You don't have to, uh, come up with as much social media content as you did in the past. You already have it. You have the short, or you have the long form video. Clip it up into minute segments. Find a good hook, get a good editor. And, uh, hey, if you don't have a good editor, but you're interested in it, reach out. Um, I'm interested in, uh, starting something, you know, kind on the side for myself to be doing this and serving churches in that, that way.

Nick Clason (23:38):
Um, I don't exactly have a framework for that or what that looks like. Hit me up on dms, on TikTok, or, you know, reach out to me via YouTube, all those links in the show notes@hybridministry.xyz. What about groups? What about relationships? How do you hybridize relationships, right? Because that's sort of the basis for this whole thing, is that social isn't, isn't built on relationships. And I would agree with that in the nitty gritty. Like when, you know, when my mother-in-law passes away, I want someone to really show up for me or really call me or really, you know, text me, um, not just, you know, interact with them at a, at a digital or social social media type level, right? But for a lot of people, the discovering of groups or finding their place or finding their people, that's half of the battle. And so if your church does not have some sort of group finder, I, I would highly recommend doing that.

Nick Clason (24:36):
If your church is about groups in some way, shape, or form that are open that people opt themselves into, then get yourself a group finder, a catalog, if you will, of the options available at your church for people to find and discover real authentic community. Because you and I know that community is really what changes things. It's what takes a church from their church to my church. So get on a group finder of some way, shape, or form. And then once you're in those groups, here are other ways that, that those groups exist and live in a hybrid sort of sense. You might use a infrastructure like Facebook group, you might use a GroupMe, you might use a group chat, or you might use some other tool feature that someone's gonna develop down the road. Maybe I'll do it and get rich, I don't know.

Nick Clason (25:23):
But, um, for the groups to have some sort of calendar of events, a place for them to have message boards with announcements, um, text messages to interact back and forth, prayer requests, all kinds of different stuff, but a place for the group to live beyond when the group meets, right? Again, the other 167 hours of that group's relationship. When is that? Where is that? When does that take place? The last area, so we talked about sermons, we talked about relationships. Now let's talk about information. You know, uh, churches more than just information people are distilled down to more than just the information that they, uh, put into their brains, okay? But like another example of ways that, that things can exist in a hybrid sort of way is some classes. So you already have your Sunday morning service. You probably already have groups. People probably can't devote too many more hours to the church, but maybe they do want to grow.

Nick Clason (26:24):
Maybe they want to grow in their knowledge of theology, or maybe they want to grow in, in a specific topic. Um, a dating marriage, right? Whatever the case might be. Your church with the 40 hours a week in your office can film some content and, and put up a catalog or a library of courses, like on a website or on an app, six week course, eight week course, something like that. So again, if someone's really committed, they may not have the time to drive back over to your church and sit through a class, find childcare, all the things. But once the kids go to bed, if they wanna pull up in their laptop and learn more, grow more in the area of theology, love, dating, marriage, spiritual gifts, right? Like you name it, you can offer a library of some of those content. I mean, products already sort of exist for that right now for churches, right now.

Nick Clason (27:14):
Media is an example of it. Um, but again, I've found that to be more small groupy content. So you can create something, you, if there's a need, you can scratch that itch, a leadership type academy. And you might even have like a leadership academy for high level leaders in your, in your, um, organization in your church that come together every so often in person. But then after they come together, if the primary goal of it is, is information and knowledge, um, and then, and information transfer, you can accomplish that for sure. You can accomplish that in a hybrid sort of way. Um, more than just short form video sermon content. You can provide short form, social media, TikTok, YouTube type content. Um, like about any topic right now, I'm doing like a little bit of a theology 1 0 1, like a deep dive into like certain areas and elements.

Nick Clason (28:06):
Um, and I'm putting posting on TikTok two times a week. It's a little mini-series that people probably just like randomly scrolling through, aren't gonna notice that they're all like interwoven and connected together. But in my mind they are. And so anyone who sees it, they're, they're gonna learn something more about God or about Jesus, or about creation or about salvation, or about the Holy Spirit or whatever the case might be. Um, because I don't have time to always get into all that, right? Like whatever our series is that's sort of driving and dictating, um, what's, what's being taught from the platform. But there are other necessary things that I think people, my students need to know that I don't have time for it, but this is a way that I can create time for it in the other hours of the week. Um, there are also examples and ways to do longform, you know, uh, styles not just short form.

Nick Clason (28:57):
So audio podcasts are huge. A lot of adults, something like 80 something percent of adults listen to three hours of podcasts a week. So, um, I think, um, Mariners, like Eric Geiger out of Mariners is doing a phenomenal job because the thing I love about him is he's conservative theologically for sure. Um, and so he's not just like out there trying to like get vanity metrics or whatever, right? But the thing he's doing is he's, he's finding ways to use the technology to teach deeper, more robust, you know, truth. And so he's doing a thing like, uh, a podcast called like the, the things that didn't make it into the sermon. Basically, if you're a pastor and you've done this before, you know that you, you prepare a load of content, but then you have to start cutting to get it down to a certain minute mark, right?

Nick Clason (29:46):
So he's doing a podcast on all the things he had to cut from his sermon, um, once a week to just dive deeper into more information. Um, and I, I think that that's brilliant. You know, I think that's a brilliant way, uh, to just add more value to the, the people in your church's, you know, life. Um, and if they're interested in it, that's great. A couple years ago, we, back when Facebook Live was a really big thing, me and another pastor on my staff, we sat, sat down for a thing called Tuesdays at two, and we just, uh, unpacked the sermon from sort of our eyes and our, our vantage point, you know? Um, and we would just have a conversation, um, as sort of interview style. And I mean, he was a licensed biblical counselor, so, uh, he was just a wealth of knowledge.

Nick Clason (30:31):
And so I, I almost operated more like as the host, and I would just toss him questions and let him sort of like unpack and untangle, you know, take the, the theology or the, the preaching and, and bring it down to more of like a boots on the ground level. At least. At least that was the goal. So all kinds of like ideas out there of ways that you can service and serve your congregation in a hybrid sort of way that is not void of relationship, that is meaningful and that people in your church will take advantage of. You just have to think hybrid. So I'd encourage you lean into it. Like I said, we're on the, a little bit the pioneering front because we had solutions for digital pre covid. It was mostly live streaming your service. Then in C O V I D, we all went full bore into it, and it was uncomfortable and unfamiliar.

Nick Clason (31:24):
So once restrictions lifted, we went back to what was familiar. Many of us went back to what was familiar, and I'll just encourage you to not abandon some of those things, but, but listen for and look for ways that you can show up in the other hours of your church members weeks. Those are gonna be what's important and valuable to them. Well, hey everyone, if you found this, uh, podcast helpful, please share it with a friend. Help us get the word out, hybrid ministry.xyz. We provide complete full show transcripts for every single episode that we've ever produced. Also, head to the blog section of that and you can grab our free social media checklist, what to do every time you post a social media, and our free complete guide to posting a TikTok from scratch, from start to finish. That is on there. And again, we are on YouTube now at this episode being the first one. Hey, to everyone on YouTube, check that out if you will get a link for that as in the show notes. And until next time, talk to y'all later. Stay hybrid.

Episode 031: Why should churches care about digital ministry in 2023?

Nick Clason — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 04:00:00 -0600

In this episode, Nick explores if there's value in digital ministry. What exactly is Hybrid Ministry? What are ways that the church can live out digital expressions that add value to in-person moments and in-person relationships? What are ways that the church can be more Hybrid?

Everything you need at http://www.hybridministry.xyz
Follow Along on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9pjecCnd8FVFCenWharf2g
Or on TikTok at: http://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Hybrid Ministry Discussion on the Barna E-Book Episode: https://www.hybridministry.xyz/006

TIMECODES
00:00-01:31 Intro
01:31-08:03 Assumption: Social Media isn't relational
08:03-15:13 Let's define Hybrid Ministry
15:13-17:24 How are real relationships hybrid?
17:24-20:00 The Best Hybrid versions in our culture
20:00-31:48 The Best Hybrid Ideas for Churches in 2023
31:48-33:00 Outro

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:03):
Well, what is up everybody? Welcome to another episode of the Hybrid Ministry podcast, and now on YouTube. Excited to be with you all. We're gonna test out a couple of video options here. See how these go. I know it'll go fine. Mostly I'm testing to see how much extra work it's gonna be. But, um, would love to have you join us over there if you want to check out for video stream as well. Something that is just another option. So we have audio, we have video but everything, the home base for it is http://hybridministry.xyz of course, cuz hybrid ministry.com was taken. So I'm your host, Nick Clason, excited to be with you. And in today's episode, what I actually wanted to discuss was this idea of why should churches even care about digital and hybrid ministry? Like what is the purpose?

Nick Clason (01:03):
We all saw the pitfalls downfalls and the reasons why digital ministry was not a good example. It was not a good thing during Covid. And so we are now past Covid. We're able to live in a more semi-normal world. Why in the world should churches even care about digital? So let's go ahead and let's get this episode underway. So let's talk about some assumptions, right? Like, I think that there are some general social media specific assumptions that say that social media is void of relationship, right? Like, the point of it is, I, I I don't know, right? Like the point of it is maybe to post some announcements and try and drum up some external, some marketing, so to speak, uh, examples of people who might not go to our church and we want to get them connected to our church.

Nick Clason (31:24):
Um, and so once restrictions lifted, we went back to what was familiar. Many of us went back to what was familiar, and I'll just encourage you to not abandon some of those things, but, but listen for and look for ways that you can show up in the other hours of your church members weeks. Those are gonna be what's important and valuable to them. Well, hey everyone, if you found this, uh, podcast helpful, please share it with a friend. Help us get the word out, http://hybridministry.xyz. We provide complete full show transcripts for every single episode that we've ever produced. Also, head to the blog section of that and you can grab our free social media checklist, what to do every time you post a social media, and our free complete guide to posting a TikTok from scratch, from start to finish. That is on there. And again, we are on YouTube now at this episode being the first one. Hey, to everyone on YouTube, check that out if you will get a link for that as in the show notes. And until next time, talk to y'all later. Stay hybrid.

Episode 030: The Advantages that Churches FINALLY have on Social Media in 2023

Nick Clason — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 04:00:00 -0600

In this Episode, Nick breaks down the advantage that churches have on social and with digital media in 2023 and beyond. And how your church can lean into that advantage, not only to train, equip and raise up your own members, but also to reach those around you with the message and hope of Jesus.

For complete transcripts head to http://www.hybridministry.xyz
Follow along on social https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Or YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sonicsman8/featured

TIMECODES
00:00-00:32 Intro
00:32-03:23 The Church has the Advantage on Social Media in 2023
03:23-05:50 The History of Social Media
05:50-06:50 The Stars have aligned in 2023 for churches on social media
06:50-09:53 - Advantage #1: Content Creation is at the Core of a Church's Weekly Work Routine
09:53-12:51 - Advantage #2: Content Creation is at the Core of the Senior Leader's weekly job
12:51-19:05 - Advantage #3: Content Creation, and the sharing of it, hits at a preferred intersection for churches
19:05-20:52 - Outro

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:01):
What is up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the Hybrid Ministry podcast. I, as always, am your host, Nick Clason. Excited to be with you wherever you are. Listen, I was gonna stay excited to be with you on this morning. I just got done with a little morning run, drinking a little morning coffee. Uh, but you might be listening to me in the evening. You might be listening to me while you're doing dishes. You, you also might be listening to me on run, wherever you are listening, said to have you with us, uh, this morning. Today, I wanted to talk about the three distinct advantages that churches have on social media in 2023. If you are anything like me, uh, the people that you follow, the algorithms that you're in especially if you've listened to the Pro Church tools or anything that Brady Shearer produces.

Nick Clason (00:52):
You have heard this before but in the event that you're not and I have some unique twists to it as well. I just think that wherever, wherever you are, wherever your role is, whether if you're like a ministry leader, a, a student pastor, a senior pastor, a church marketing person, a church communications person, whatever your role is, I think it's important to note that the church today in 2023 has a distinct advantage on social media, an advantage that they haven't had in, I would say, years. Um, in all my entire time as, um, a church leader, a pastor, youth pastor, I've never experienced or noticed an advantage much like what we have today. So, um, I'm excited to share that with you Before we dive in. Um, anything that you need show wise, you can head to hybrid ministry.xyz. Um, if you click on the, uh, articles or the blog section there of the website, that is where you can access our completely 100% free ebook and our 100% free checklist signing up for either one of those will get both of those resources into your inbox automatically for free.

Nick Clason (02:03):
So go check those out. We would love to have you there. And if you didn't know this, every single episode that we have, uh, has transcripts and is, um, put on, on the website into every episode's archive. And so that is a just completely 100% free resource that we make available to you so that you can go back and not have to listen back through, but you can read through. Um, and let me just warn you that because, uh, this podcast is still, you know, I'm still not making money on it. It's something that I am paying for out of my pocket. I have not, I have not paid Rev, who I use rev.com. I've not paid them to do the human transcription. Yep. So I'm still doing ai. Uh, so even sometimes I go back to my own archives to look for things, but, uh, sometimes it's a little bit hard to muddle through because it's AI transcribed.

Nick Clason (02:53):
So sorry for that. If you're out there, sponsor us, and, um, maybe we'll start springing for the human transcription so it's got a little bit more level of accuracy. Um, but hey, uh, head to the show notes for anything that we mentioned today. Um, like I said, grab our free ebook on, have I already ruined my TikTok account? A complete Guide to Posting a TikTok from Scratch. 100%. All that being said, let's dive in the three distinct advantages that churches have on social media in 2023. Let's go. All right, so 2023 social media. Here we are. Let's think about it. The church has a distinct advantage, one that they have not seen in a lifetime. I think of a lot of social media. So, um, social media historically has been a social platform, right? That's where the, the term social comes from, because humans are connecting one-on-one with other people on the other side of the screen.

Nick Clason (03:45):
So think Facebook started as a college, uh, on a college campus so that people could get to know one another, that they maybe haven't met people that they recognize by face. So it's very, uh, it was very built as a, uh, human to human connection sort of portal. But over time, it's evolved and it's become sort of like an, an online photo album. Different social platforms have taken on different life forms, Twitter, sort of like a micro blogging, uh, place to kind of like listen and look at things live. Like I, I use Twitter a lot for sports. Instagram was a photo sharing app. Um, and you could, you know, at its inception, you could only share one photo and it could only be Square. And so, um, part of the problem was that Facebook would, would really recommend you creating like, full online albums, like share your entire trip to Brazil with us, where Instagram is like, share the best photo from your trip to Brazil.

Nick Clason (04:36):
And then Twitter was like, while you're there, live tweet, right? So all of those had u had unique and completely different, um, purposes. Then throw in YouTube, which is the second largest search engine in the world. Some would say three behind Google images, but either way, they're all under the Google umbrella. So, um, Instagram, or I'm sorry, YouTube being a search engine, um, and long form video, that's a completely separate piece and style of content that is needed from Facebook, from Instagram, from Twitter. And then, oh, by the way, here, bursting on the scene is this brand new thing called TikTok, short form video, where people just do dances and goofy silly stuff. So what are we supposed to do with that? So you got photo albums, you got groups and pages over on Facebook. You got micro blogging and live tweeting things. You got Instagram, single photo sharing apps, eventually stories added in.

Nick Clason (05:31):
And then you got YouTube long form video, and they're all different. And so if you're a church leader, and if you're like the senior pastor and you're also keeping your social media afloat, you're just doing whatever it takes to like serve each of the platforms at its bare minimum. But now in this weird aligning of stars in 2023, I would say, because of the, um, prominence and popularity of TikTok, churches have a unique and distinct advantage that they have not had in years. And that is this short form vertical video content is now being pushed across all of the major platforms. Yes, Facebook, yes, Instagram, yes, YouTube, and obviously yes, TikTok. So your core four, your main four players that I would recommend that you as a church be active on, on social media. You can have all four accounts, and better yet, you can post to all four accounts, the exact same piece of content across all four accounts.

Nick Clason (06:37):
And for the first time ever, you're not dinged. In fact, you're encouraged to do that. So let's take a look at reason number one, why the church has a distinct advantage on social media in 2023. So, advantage number one is that content creation is at the core of what a church's weekly work rhythm is. So think about this, your church every single week hosts a gathering where a piece of content is delivered to a group of people. Um, think like, and that is an, that is an amazing advantage that most people don't have, because most, if you're a plumber or if you're an auto mechanic, or if you are a big box store retailer, right? You also want to be on social media. It's part of marketing, it's a part of driving up business and getting clientele and people discovering you. But what in the heck is a plumber or what is a big box store retailer?

Nick Clason (07:39):
Or what is a, um, auto mechanic? What are they doing every single day? They're fixing leaky drains. They're selling things to people as cashiers at Walmart. They're, they're, they're, uh, they're fixing people's cars, timing belts, right? That's what the primary like, focus of their work is. And so if an auto mechanic wants to be active and vibrant and relevant on social media, that auto mechanic is going to probably either a, take his phone with him under the car and do some tutorial videos or something like that. But if that auto mechanic is any good, he's probably really busy and he has, doesn't have time to be posting, editing, putting captions over, you know, screens. So then what does an auto mechanic do? He hires his young Gen z uh, nephew to come in and run social media, but that nephew has never touched a car before.

Nick Clason (08:30):
And so that nephew is just trying to like, keep their Instagram feed posted, um, and keep it active and with like, graphics and things like that, okay? The point is, an auto mechanic is not in the business of content creation. Neither is a plumber, neither is a store. Now, the really good ones are, right? And those are the ones that you probably watch. You have a leaky drain, you go on YouTube or you go on YouTube shorts, you're gonna find a plumber who's done a tutorial that's a really good plumber who's creating some content. But the reality is not a hundred percent of plumbers are doing that. Not a hundred percent of businesses are doing that. Not a hundred percent of auto mechanics are doing that. The church weekly 52, sometimes 51 weeks a year. Cause some churches take that week between Christmas and New Year's and doing online only service, but even still, they're creating content.

Nick Clason (09:16):
So go, I digress back to 52, 52 weeks a year, 52 times in a year, you are creating content to be delivered to somebody that is age old, that has been a part of what the church has done for decades, centuries. Um, the, so the reality is this, right? The reality is that, um, short form video content loves content, loves created, custom curated content, and the church has a unique advantage because it already is creating that content within the rhythm of what it does. Okay? Advantage number two. So not only is content creation at the core of the church's weekly work rhythm, but content creation is at the core of what the senior leadership does within the organization. Let's go back to our plumber or automechanic mechanic analogy. Usually the head, the CEO of the business is not the content creator. So if you as a plumber wanna have a popin TikTok account, you probably have to hire somebody who's good at marketing to create a Popin TikTok account.

Nick Clason (10:27):
If you as a auto mechanic wanna have a Popin TikTok account, you gotta bring in your nephew, okay? Now, maybe your senior pastor isn't very tech savvy. Maybe your senior pastor isn't even very active on social media. But what your senior pastor does is your senior pastor sits down and weekly writes up content. And so the head, the most, um, the, the best figurehead of your entire organization is standing up and presenting a prepared piece of content weekly. We already, we already talked about that, right? But it comes from the very tippy top of your organization. So if you were to bring in your nephew and an auto mechanic shop, the nephew's like, Hey, you should do some tutorial videos. I would imagine the auto mechanics like, bro, I don't have time for that. I get outta here with your newf fangled social media, TikTok video, things like, I, I can't go under the hood with a phone.

Nick Clason (11:26):
I, I don't even know how to work this thing, right? That's the difference. The senior pastor gets up weekly to prepare or to present prepared content to a group of people, to a room full of people. So that bodes well for you. Why does that bode well for you? Because your, your, uh, social media accounts on your, on, um, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, whatever, people probably follow your church because they go to your church. And so therefore, when they see your senior pastor on a video, that's a very recognizable face that's much more recognizable than your church communications person. No offense, that's you watching this, or your digital marketing specialist. Again, no offense if that's you watching this, or even your youth pastor who you handed your phone to and said, Hey, please keep us relevant on social media. They may see the youth pastor preach 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 times a year, but they see the senior pastor preach almost weekly.

Nick Clason (12:21):
And so when they're scrolling through a feed and they see the senior pastor on your social media, he is going to be a very recognizable person. He's also probably your most skilled communicator. So also you can use that to your advantage. Put your most skilled, uh, oral, um, person, oral, uh, presenter out there for the, for both your church people to see, but also for other people to see, which leads us to our third distinct advantage for churches advantage. Number three is that content creation and the sharing of that created content hits at a unique intersection of what most churches are looking to do. So what are most churches looking to do? Well, you can go back to Matthew chapter 28, verse 18 through 20. Jesus says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.

Nick Clason (13:23):
And surely I am with you always, even to the very end of the age, baked within the great commission, we find something that comes from the greatest commandment. Matthew chapter 22, where Jesus says you are to number one, love the Lord your God with your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And second, love your neighbor as yourself. What is the church meant to do? The church is meant to help people learn the ways, the methods, the mission, the the content, the character, the competencies of Jesus to adopt those things. So for believers to grow more and more into the image and likeness of Jesus. And also the church is meant to go to make disciples, to reach out beyond our walls, to share and show the love of Jesus. And short form, vertical video content hits at the intersection where both your church people are, and people outside of your walls are living.

Nick Clason (14:19):
And so both are scrolling through social media, both are scrolling through some sort of discovery algorithm on one of the four core social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok. And boom, they're stopped with an inspirational message because it's a weekly thing curated by your senior leadership. And now they are stopping, scrolling and looking at a video and being encouraged, equipped, and discipled. All right, so now what? So with these three distinct advantages, now, what does this mean for you? Well, you might be watching this and you might be, um, a church leader who doesn't have any time to really do anything about that. You might be a, uh, marketing manager and you can't get your senior pastor to let you onto these platforms. So the first thing you need to do is you need to, uh, use a little bit of persuasion maybe, and show some analytics about the popularity of these discovery algorithm, um, apps, and the fact that every single social media platform is pushing and highlighting and promoting this type of content.

Nick Clason (15:21):
The other thing, if you're already live streaming your service, which Covid brought most people into that, um, then take clips, then watch through your sermon and, and take some clips and watch through them. If you are interested in, um, looking through some examples of ones that I have done in my own ministry and for other ministries of places that I am in partnership with, uh, hit me up, reach out to me. Um, you can DM me on Instagram at Clason nick or on TikTok at Clason nick to see some of those examples. Uh, but be looking through your live stream messages to, um, find two or three different clips that you can post and promote a week. Now, what if you're not live streaming? What do you do? Well, you can go back to another episode. I'll drop the, the episode link in the show notes.

Nick Clason (16:08):
But I gave my complete custom setup for it, creating YouTube content for churches on a budget. And the primary thing that I, I recommend is that I recommend that you, uh, pre film your talks. So I'll give you an example. I'm a youth pastor in a, a church with a fairly large auditorium, but we, the auditorium that I'm in is not the main auditorium. So we don't have all the bells and whistles to do a live stream. And so instead of us trying to jimmy rig a phone in the back or figure out a way to like drop $50,000 to retrofit our auditorium, uh, to do a good live stream, I take my camera on my phone, prop it up on a tripod and fill myself or any one of the other people on our team before we deliver the message live on a Wednesday.

Nick Clason (16:53):
So we use that to post on YouTube, and then we go back to that content to edit and, and clip out the things. So the other things that you need to be doing, um, as you're listening to sermons, is you wanna be listening to things that are good hooks. Uh, so yesterday I was sitting in a sermon, I was sitting in my, my church's sermon, um, and I heard my pastor give this analogy, this five finger analogy of how to learn and, and know and memorize God's word better. And I thought, boom, that's an amazing reel. So I'm gonna go find it and I'm gonna clip it up. Um, and so if you're interested in that, head to my TikTok or head to, uh, my Instagram to check out example of that or just DM me for the link, I'll show it to you Again, that's Instagram, TikTok.

Nick Clason (17:33):
Um, and my handle is at Clason, c l a s o n, Nick, n i c k. So, um, and then, uh, hone your editing skills. Here's the beautiful thing. If you don't have the, the best software to do it on a computer, you can do most of it on the TikTok app. So you can bring clips into your TikTok app and use the studio, uh, feature to edit that. Again, if you don't know how to do it. If you've never opened TikTok before and you're like, what in the world am I looking at? Head to the link in my show notes and grab our free ebook on how to edit and post a TikTok completely from start to finish. It will show you how to use the studio feature in TikTok, how to edit and how to, um, create clips that matter, that grab people's attention.

Nick Clason (18:22):
Um, and that stop the scroll. The biggest thing you're looking for when you're clipping things up is not just to put little clips of your pastor out there, but you're looking to find a good hook. And either your pastor says a hook creates a good hook in his talking, or if he doesn't, you can use that, that famous voiceover feature and say, um, you know, using like the AI auto sound thing, this is like five ways to memorize and learn scripture. Cuz I don't know that my pastor gave a good hook for that. So I'll do that, probably voiceover effect and then boom, I'll clip his thing up and I mean, he took probably five minutes on it and I'm gonna clip it down into under 60 seconds. So I'm just gonna make it quick, quick cuts fast, uh, memorable, and boom, it's gonna be out there.

Nick Clason (19:05):
So if you found this helpful, glad you're here. Thanks for jumping in. Listen, you have the message and hope that is available to the entire world. So don't be afraid or ashamed or shy to share it. Use social media. Um, lean in to hybrid to get the message of God's people out there, both to remind and remember, um, or to remind your disciples, the people in your congregation about the message from Sunday to be encouraged throughout the week, to continue to take steps more and more in their faith, to look more and more like Jesus and to reach those around us who maybe have not yet found the hope of Jesus, but can find that through the body and work of a local church. And you are directly in the intersection of that. Whatever your role is, pastor, youth pastor, digital specialist, church communications person, excited to have you with us on the journey.

Nick Clason (20:02):
We clip up little, uh, clips of these every single episode and drop 'em onto my personal TikTok at Cliff and Nicki can grab the link there in the show notes. Uh, we will have transcripts for this episode at http://hybridministry.xyz wherever you listen to this on whatever podcast platform catcher. Glad to have you with us. Glad you're listening in your ear holes. If you found this helpful, would you rate it, leave a comment, and maybe share with the, so that they also can, uh, learn about the importance people around. And we will talk to you next time. Stay Hybrid.

Episode 028: The Purpose of the Church and Social Media's Role within that

Nick Clason — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 04:00:00 -0600

SUMMARY
In this episode, Nick discusses the purpose of the church, as laid out from Jesus in the Great Commission, as well as the 59 different times the New Testament lays out a "One Another" statement. He then disects and brainstorms different ways in which the church, through a Hybrid and Digital approach, can live out the mission and purpose of the church through some of the One Another statements of the New Testament Church.

Come hang out at http://www.hybridministry.xyz
Or on TikTok http://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Or on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9pjecCnd8FVFCenWharf2g

SHOWNOTES
FREE E-Book: https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/ebook
Have I already Ruined my TikTok Account Video: https://youtu.be/oxBn-p9O-eg
The Do's, Don'ts and lessons learned from launching a YouTube channel for your church in 2022: https://www.hybridministry.xyz/018
Atomic Habits: https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Habits-Proven-Build-Break/dp/0735211299/ref=asc_df_0735211299/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312014159412&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8492597528919365054&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9027304&hvtargid=pla-541463258824&psc=1

TIMECODES
00:00-01:31 - Intro
01:31-03:47 - What is the role of the church as a whole?
03:47-11:55 - How the Church should carry out the Great Commission
11:55-15:00 - Build Up
15:00-19:51 - Speaking Truth
19:51-21:42 - Stir Up
21:42-24:24 - 3 Short Form Video Hacks
24:24-26:24 - Outro

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:00):
Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Hybrid Ministry podcast. I am your host, Nick Clason, excited to be here with you today. And if you have not go check out the show notes or head to hybridministry.xyz I'm gonna put a link to it in here, but we just released two things, a brand new YouTube video and a brand new ebook, both which are built to help you post a TikTok from start to finish. It's titled, have I Already Ruined My TikTok Account? And the entire purpose of it is really this understanding that like social media in 2023 is moving a hundred percent towards short form video content, TikTok, Instagram reels, YouTube, short style content. And so are you prepared and equipped to post that type of content? And are you prepared and equipped? Do you know what it takes to, do that?

Nick Clason (00:57):
Um, and have you, if you've ever logged into TikTok, and if you've ever been confused and you're like, what is going on in this place, this video and this ebook are both, uh, guides to help you walk through and navigate how to post something from something that you pre-recorded, or how to, uh, record something natively in the app, how to, uh, jump on trends, how to use audio, personal, um, business accounts, all kinds of different things. And so, uh, like I said, we got the link to that for you here in the show notes. Go check that out. I hope that that's something that you find beneficial and valuable. But in, uh, today's episode, I want, I really wanted to look at what is the purpose and what is the role of social media in the local church? So if we think about it, the purpose of the church, um, I think it was given to us by Jesus.

Nick Clason (01:51):
So I don't think that that changes. I think, you know, churches all have their own mission and vision statements, but I think they all should be derived and come from, uh, the Great Commission, which we find in Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 through 20, where Jesus says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Again, this is Jesus talking. And he says, so therefore, go and make disciples. That word go is often used for like missionary conferences, like, go, go, go, go to Africa, go to Poland, to go to wherever. Right? But, but really the verb there is not go. The verb is this idea, the word go is better translated like as you are going. And so the verb, the actual verb is to make disciples. So the purpose of every church, every local, uh, church expression, every gathering, every eia, the Greek word of churches, eia, gathering and coming together, a conglomerate of people, um, that are all built and, and focusing on the same general mission, um, is to make disciples.

Nick Clason (02:58):
So as you are, are going, as you are living your life in the places where you live, learn, work and play, make disciples, help people take meaningful, significant steps towards Jesus. Um, teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. He says, and then he, um, says, Baptiz them in the name of the Father, son, holy Spirit. Once they make that decision. And then finally, I will be with you always, even to the very end of the age, Jesus gives us this promise of His presence, this promise that he will not leave us nor forsake us, that he will, as we are taking steps towards him, as we are helping other people make decisions to follow him, um, that people will be, um, that, that he will choose and will be with us to the very end of the age. So that is the purpose of the church as given to us by Jesus himself.

Nick Clason (03:48):
So then if, if the purpose of the church is to go and make disciples, the avenue or the venue with which Jesus lays out for us to do that is, I believe, best to be done in and through the context of his local church. And so I think that, um, what has happened is if we look back into a little bit of church history, which this is not intended to be like a church history podcast, nor am I that well versed in that topic anyway, but the, the, we all know, if we look back to like the Book of Acts and some of the early church, like the church was much more like a family. And now I feel like in America, north America, um, because of Western influence, the church is much more operated like a corporation, less, like, less like a family. So more corporation, less family.

Nick Clason (04:44):
And so social media, um, oftentimes is the marketing arm of this corporate entity that we're all living in and experiencing. And so social media's role often is an awareness. Um, role is often a role on helping people, um, learn about, have brand recognition and awareness of the church. It's all about color schemes and guides and branding and fonts. And, and listen, like as a, as a marketer at heart, like I'm, you know, I'm a youth pastor, right? But like, I, I'm obviously interested in this topic of marketing and stuff like that. So as a marketer at heart, I don't mind those things. In fact, I actually, I appreciate them. I understand what we're doing and, you know, with those things. So with that being said, right, like what, what is the role of social media in a gathering? Is it to help, uh, draw family together, right?

Nick Clason (05:40):
If we're gonna go off the old, uh, new Testament example, um, and framework, or is it to bring brand recognition and awareness, um, the role of the church to make disciples to do that in the context of a of gathering of a family. Um, where, where do we get our basis for what church is? You know, if we look through the New Testament, there's really not a lot of examples of a church built like a business with a c e o, with a head, with a pastor, with a president, with a figure talking head. Um, it's just, that's, that's really not what we see a lot. Instead, what we do see a lot of in the New Testament, right, as we see some of these examples of one another's. Um, so I think one of the best, uh, examples of, uh, what the church can do and what the church should be and what the church should look like is, um, found in the 59 times that we see the phrase one another spelled out in the New Testament.

Nick Clason (06:34):
So for example, we have, um, the command to love one another. We have the command to honor one another from Romans 1210. We have the command to live in harmony with one another, Romans 1216 to build one another up. Romans, uh, 14 for Thessalonians five to be like-minded. Romans chapter 15, to accept one another, Romans 15 to admonish one another. Colossians three, we have care for one another, serve one another, bear one another's burdens, forgive one another, be patient with one another, speak the truth to one another, be kind and compassionate to one another. Speak with Psalms and spiritual songs. Submit to one another, consider one another, look to the interests of others, and finally, stir up, stimulate toward love and good works. And I think most of us would agree that that entire slew of list, that's not even all 59 of them, right?

Nick Clason (07:24):
But the ones that I picked out that I put there on that list, I think most of us would agree that those are best done, or at least most familiarly done and accomplished through, um, being done in person. And so, if we are going to live out the call of the church, then I think, um, you could make an argument. I think some people do, and try to make an argument that the church should be most and best expressed in the context of a family, in person, local gathering type of experience. Okay? Now, just because it's familiar doesn't mean that something different is wrong, okay? And I think if you look at, um, the New Testament, obviously, what is the majority of the New Testament, the majority of the documents right, that we have in our New Testament are letters, letters from the Apostle Paul, letters from James, letters from, uh, Luke, letters, from whoever wrote the book of Hebrews, letters from Peter, letters from John.

Nick Clason (08:33):
And what are these letters? They are written to different churches with what? With the intention to live out these one another's, to admonish one another, to speak truth to one another, to build up one another, to stir up love and good works to one another. And so if those things are the case, um, what was writing in the first century? Well, writing was the means and method to communicate from long distances. Paul was writing to these churches because he was in prison. So he did not have the option to be physically present with them. And I think in a lot of ways, like, so, okay, then like, let's play that out. So yeah, that's what, that's, that was Paul's issue. But our issue, like, we can be together. Yes, that's true, but we also don't live in this very oral, um, slow paced, you know, in the first century, there were no cars.

Nick Clason (09:22):
The main mode of transportation was most likely walking. And so a lot of the, as you are going from Matthew chapter 28, right? A lot of that was probably on the way on the road. Jesus and his disciples probably had so many conversations as they were walking to and from different places in different locations. And so when we think about it, we're like, well, we, yes, we don't have to write letters cause we're not in jail to one another, but we don't live in a culture that really allows us to be together as often as they were in the first century. And I think that we should potentially try to pursue that. I think we should try to make every effort to be living life, um, together, uh, life on life and, um, encouraging one another and moshing another and doing those things in person.

Nick Clason (10:09):
However, I think that distance is still an obstacle, is still, uh, a thing that we experience here, um, in 2023 and beyond. And so, um, the constraints of not being able to physically be together 24 hours a day, seven days a week are real, right? Like, we have jobs, we have families, we have homes, we have sports schedules, we have, um, band practices, we have, um, we have to run our kids to and from all kinds of different things and activities. We have obligations, we have PTO meetings, we have family gatherings that are obligations. We have all kinds of different things that keep us from living life on life with our faith community. And so we should be doing all of these things in person. However, I think that the hybrid side of this is there is a means and a medium that is now available to us that was also available to, um, a a similar means of method that was available in the first century.

Nick Clason (11:07):
Paul used letters. Now I think we can use digital means and digital mediums to get the message of hope across. So let's talk about living out some of these one another that we looked at, right? I want to pick in particular three and, and talk about how those can be lived out in a hybrid world, okay? Because yes, social media can be a good marketing tool, yes, social media can bring a lot of awareness to your church and help get people to your big gathering. But if we're really gonna live out the method of Jesus, which is to make disciples, and then as the New Testament lays out 59 different times to do things with and for, um, one another, okay? Let's look more at the family aspect and think about how we can, um, how we can use social media towards that end. So the first one I wanna look at is build up, build up one another.

Nick Clason (12:01):
What are ways that you can build up the people of God that call your church, um, home, that want to be a part of a, a family and a faith community? How can you encourage them? Maybe you can look down the barrel of a camera and a shotgun microphone and record one video a day, one video a week, and encourage them to keep the faith to make a difference in the world and this sphere of influence that God has placed them in their life. Maybe you can read scripture. I think I don't have this stat very well off the top of my head, but I think it's something like 8% of, um, Christians say they read the Bible on a regular basis. And most people would say that regular means one time a week. Okay? Conversely, they say that Generation Z um, spends anywhere from five to eight hours of screen time per day.

Nick Clason (12:56):
All right? And so, um, that's just one of the generations that we're dealing with. The reality is they're reading scripture once a week versus being on their phone anywhere from five to eight hours per day. What if, while they're on their phones, on TikTok, on Instagram, on Facebook, on any of the social platforms that by the way, are now all promoting short form video content, what if you just read scripture? That's all you had to do. One of my, one of the trends, one of the, um, one of the frameworks that I used in my own ministry that gets some of the most traction is a hook like this where they open the phone and I I'm doing nothing. I'm saying nothing. And all I'm doing is pointing to text on the screen, no words for about 2, 3, 4, 5 seconds. And I'm pointing at the, at the text on the screen, which says either stay or scroll, which is just big and bold, right?

Nick Clason (13:46):
Like that's the whole point. Big, bold. And then right beneath it says, read scripture with me so they know what they're staying for, right? And once you see that, like if you're a Christian, okay, and you see stares scrolling, it says, read scripts with me, you're gonna have this like sort of guttural, visceral reaction. Like, ugh, I probably should stay and not just go onto the next dance video or sports video or whatever other video's gonna be behind it, right? And then just read a verse, one verse and then just riff on it for the remaining 30 seconds that you probably have left. You know, what does it mean? You could, um, promote other spiritual practice. You could help them get into practice of meditating, memorizing scripture, prayer, um, maybe even accountability. Hey, text a friend that you haven't texted in a while, like, do this one another text a friend from your small group who you know, needs encouragement. That's a way to help, uh, through another person, encourage a person in your local body. Um, you could also just deliver some wise words, um, some, some words that come from scripture, some words that come from a wise mentor pastor, somebody who has some age and life experience, but that's just an ex. Those are just a few examples to kinda get your wheels turning of how social media and short form video can be used to help build up the elicia, the gathering, the family of Jesus.

Nick Clason (15:01):
What about speaking truth? Um, obviously you can use sermon clips and we have talked about that ad nauseum, but it's still a worthwhile thing to talk about. If you are live streaming your service, grab a clip of your pastor, cut it down, get it into a 16 by nine framework, put in some sort of hook. If he doesn't have a good hook, use like the voiceover feature or some like big text on screen thing, be like how to navigate conflict. And then boom, cut to the pastor talking, right? If you do not have the technology available to you to, uh, do a sermon clip, um, we've talked in the past, and you can go back to the ultimate YouTube framework. I will, um, put that link here in the show notes. Um, but you can, um, pre-record your messages and you can make that be, um, a thing that you then pull clips from and, uh, give just different quotes.

Nick Clason (15:47):
Uh, 62nd inspirational things from the sermon content. Here's the thing, I'm a pastor, okay? A youth pastor, but a pastor nonetheless. And, um, I, I put a lot of prep into my weekly content that I deliver one time a week to a room full of people, and after that, it goes to die somewhere on my hard drive. But being able to then repurpose this out of your communications department or your digital strategy people, or even if you, it's you the pastor, take your content and put it back out there into the world that you have spent so much time preparing, that's a way to help, um, speak the truth with one another, to the people in your church to remind them of what they heard on the weekend. Maybe they weren't there. Maybe this is a, a primer, a teaser of what the appetite for them to hear a clip of the sermon.

Nick Clason (16:29):
Then they're like, you know what? Maybe I should go listen to that whole thing. Which leads me to the point that if you are, you should have a place for them to go listen to the whole thing, uh, either in full audio form or on a YouTube channel. Again, whether that's your live stream or that's a pre-recorded thing that you are doing, and then posting. Some other examples of speaking truth are sermon quotes, right? You can take just a quote from your pastor sermon and you can create a video out of it, even if it's just like a video of a drone flying over a mountain and then the pastor's quote flies in or a a tweet screenshot or something with some nice music behind it. Um, you can do adjacent type content from the sermon, right? So this month, for example, in our student ministry, we're talking about the, um, sermon series of habits.

Nick Clason (17:13):
Okay? So it's the habit of living in community, the habit of, um, bible reading, prayer, and then accountability. Okay? But what I'm gonna do on social media, and you can go check this out if you want, at our, um, our TikTok, um, it is at Cross Creek Students on Instagram, YouTube, and hopefully TikTok here soon. If you can't find it on TikTok, you might try at first. Colville students, we just changed our name and here's a quick story for you. We just changed our name and I, uh, I secured the handle at Cross Creek students on TikTok, and it said that it has, it has 30 days, um, to totally deactivate your account. So I deactivated and deleted the Cross Creek students account so that I could go from my first Colville account and change it to Cross Creek students, um, because I held it up until the 30 day period.

Nick Clason (18:01):
Um, but I have not been able to switch it over. So everything is Cross Creek students, the new logo, the name, um, and all the other handles are, but that handle specifically is still at first Colville students. I'm looking every single day this week to see if I can change it. If not, I may have to change it to something like first, uh, cross Creek students one. Um, but then once I do that, I have to wait another 30 days before I can make another change. And so I don't know when or if that, um, at Cross Creek students handle will become available. So I don't wanna lock in something temporary and then that handle becomes available, but I'm stuck, you know, for another 30 days. So anyway, um, welcome to the life of someone who's, um, working with these companies, by the way, their support not helpful.

Nick Clason (18:45):
So anyway, um, but the adjacent content that I have written on habits is, um, I just got done reading the book, atomic Habits by James Clear, phenomenal book. Definitely recommend it. I'll put the link to that in the show notes as well. Um, but I am going to share just some, some habit building, um, tips and frameworks, um, general habit building tips. And so that's adjacent content. We're talking about these four disciplines of community prayer, scripture, reading and accountability. And then over here on our social media, we're gonna talk about how habits are built, informed, make 'em easy, make 'em attractive, how to break bad habits, make 'em invisible, make 'em difficult, make 'em, um, something that you don't desire, right? And those two things go together. But this one is a little bit, um, more psychological, not as spiritual necessarily. And this one over here is spiritual. But if you take some of these principles from the Atomic Habits book and some of the other habit building things, you can apply them over to the spiritual habits. Okay? Um, another idea that you can have in speaking the truth is just like a hook. Like, Hey, here's what the Bible has to say about blank. It's a great hook. You're gonna get people start your video off strong.

Nick Clason (19:53):
All right? The third and final one, another I wanna look at is how can we stir up one another? How do we stir up one another toward love and good deeds? Um, you could give them a challenge to think about this. This is what scripture has to say about that. Um, what about, um, toward good deed, you could give them, give them challenges. You could ask 'em to pass along something maybe on like in like a Facebook group, like post a picture of you paying it forward and you do that whole thing at Starbucks line repay for the person behind you, or whatever the case may be. Um, but that just gives a little bit of social proof and a little bit of like camaraderie, like, Hey, we're all in this thing together. And, and better yet, right? Like, you can try to do all that and facilitate all that through social media, but if you can get your pastor from the stage to push that and say, Hey, this week we're all gonna pay it forward.

Nick Clason (20:40):
And then on social media, you're, you're posting, Hey, post a picture of you paying it forward, or, you know, something like, like that. Um, or you get a little, a TikTok video of, of you paying it forward. You have someone just in the passenger seat taking a video of you doing it or someone in your church doing it. And, and you can find a way to grab that and curate that and have them send it to you. Then you can post that and celebrate that. Remember what gets celebrated gets repeated. And so if these are some of the things that you want to do in your church, uh, capture that on video and sell, get that out and celebrate that. Again, we're in this unique time where all the four major players in social media, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, are all in right now, all in on short form video content.

Nick Clason (21:22):
And so for the first time ever, you do not have to create custom content for all four of those things. You can create one video that works for all four, and I have the, the framework to help you create that, post that and repurpose that to those different platforms. Again, Lincoln Bio, how you can get that free ebook or the YouTube video, check that out. Let me give you, um, three short form video hacks that, um, were noticing for 2023 as we're moving ahead. So hack number one is SEO does matter. If you look at TikTok now, especially, they are trying to use it more like a search engine. So just like YouTube was very much like how to this, how to, that. Now TikTok is moving that direction. So think about your videos that way. And so be using things like captions on screen, be using things like, um, hashtags, and then also be thinking about the actual caption that you are writing as you're getting ready to post your, um, your TikTok.

Nick Clason (22:20):
So try to think of search engine type optimization type of words. Another short form video hack you want is you wanna have a good hook, something that's going to stop the scroll. That's why that stay or scroll thing that I explained earlier is such a good hook because it's literally asking people to stay instead of scroll, which is the main behavior that people are doing when they're on social media, especially in a short form video place like reels or shorts or on TikTok. And then finally, um, use cross platform posting, like I said. So go to YouTube shorts. I just started doing that on our own account. Go to reels for both, um, Facebook and Instagram. And then you can duplicate and do dual purposes through your Facebook and Instagram feeds, right? So like, um, your feeds will help, um, if you, if you like, on reels, if you also post a reel to the feed that's going to go out mostly to your church members, to your eia, um, or into your stories, right?

Nick Clason (23:17):
That's another place that's gonna go mostly to your members. If it's on just reels, that's more of a discoverability. So how having people outside your church find you and see you and engage in spiritual practice with you. And so you can, for, again, you can do dual purposes. You can encourage admonish, build up, stir up, um, speak truth to the people in your church, and also offer some of those spiritual guided practices to some people who may not be inside your, your church. It's a unique and amazing opportunity that we have right now as people in 2023 to use the tools, to use the, the means, mediums, and methods of the day to help share the message of hope, to share the gospel with the people of the world, the people in your church, to encourage one another, to build one another up, and to help make them more like Jesus.

Nick Clason (24:09):
So use it. Be a social media user. Don't let it get you. Don't let it suck your soul dry, but use it to share the message of hope of Jesus because he has changed your life and you wanna share that with other people. Hey, thanks again so much for hanging out on this episode. I hope that you found it helpful if you did share it or leave a rating or a review. Both of those things are going to be phenomenally helpful in our indexing and helping get this message out to other people who are, uh, social media managers, church communications specialists, and their churches. Um, we just really want to be a resource to the local church. Um, I believe that the local church is God's Plan A for reaching the world. And so in every way, in everything I can, I wanna just help, um, the, help those people and help, uh, God's people get this message out there to them.

Nick Clason (24:59):
Um, also head to hybridministry.xyz. Um, you can grab that copy of that free ebook link is in the description or on the website there. Um, and, uh, come hang out with me personally on my TikTok. It's @clasonnick, um, c l a s o n n i c K. Um, I'm posting Little Clips, um, from this podcast to my own personal TikTok and I also just try to have some fun on there posting some football content and other fun things that interest me. So just fun place to hang out. Um, and then I also got my YouTube channel, which, um, is gonna be a little hit or miss admittedly. Um, but that is where that, how to post to a TikTok video is going to live. So you can go check that out. That's something that interests you, and we will talk to you all next time. Keep it hybrid people.

Episode 027: Nick's Interview with TikTok superstar, Josh Chasteen

Nick Clason — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 07:00:00 -0600

SUMMARY
In this episode, Nick sits down with teacher and TikToker, Josh Chasteen. Mr Chasteen went viral on TikTok a year or so ago, in part because of his early adoption of the platform, his silly and relatable content, but he shares the story and all that's happened since that TikTok went crazy viral. In addition he shares his view and vantage point of what it's like being on TikTok as a grown adult and teacher and connecting and bulding relational inroads with his students.

SHOWNOTES
FREE EBook "Have I already Ruined my TikTok account?" https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/ebook
Check out the YouTube Video for that:
https://youtu.be/oxBn-p9O-eg
Follow Josh on TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@mr_chasteen101
Follow Nick on TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
For All things Hybrid Ministry
http://www.hybridministry.xyz

TIMECODES
00:00-02:23 Intro
02:23-09:44 How it all Started with Mr Chasteen
09:44-15:00 The TikTok that changed everything
15:00-18:03 What do your family members think of all this craziness?
18:03-22:04 How does TikTok allow you to connect with students for ministry and relationships?
22:04-26:35 The death of curation and content
26:35-27:55 What's the funniest or most fun you've had on TikTok?
27:55-29:47 As a teacher, what's one piece of advice you'd give to pastors or ministry leaders?
29:47-31:26 Outro

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:01):
What is up everybody? Welcome to another episode of the Hybrid Ministry podcast. I'm your host, Nick Clason. And hey, if you have not already, make sure that you jump into the show notes or head to http://www.hybridministry.xyz to grab your free ebook for how to know if you have already ruined your TikTok account. It is your guide, complete guide from start to finish on how to post a TikTok and how to start flooding your social media with this short form of vertical video content. Short form, vertical video content is here to stay. It is the trend for 2023, and it gives churches and ministries and pastors a significant advantage because you are already creating content within the normal rhythm and scope of your week. So repurpose some of that content. Use it on social media. Literally every single platform, TikTok, Instagram reels, Facebook and YouTube has introduced shorts.

Nick Clason (01:09):
They're all out there begging for this type of content to be on their platform, so don't miss that opportunity. I know specifically in my own context, we just started posting to YouTube shorts and just about every single video has over a thousand views. I think. Not a lot of people are out there using that platform. So we already have like 17, 18 subscribers from posting for four days so far. So it's a pretty unprecedented time. Every platform is in a little bit of a different place in their life cycle. Um, and so go grab that ebook so that you have the resources that you need to make that happen. In today's show, what I'm gonna do is I'm going to introduce you to someone who got on TikTok early, um, and had a, uh, uh, TikTok go completely bonkers viral. He has a crazy story to tell you. It's my friend, uh, Josh Chasteen. Him and I are actually friends from college. He was in my wedding, I was in his wedding. Um, but you may have actually seen him on TikTok if you're on there at all. He's a teacher, he does all kinds of fun teacher type stuff. So I'm excited to bring you this interview and conversation today with my friend Josh. Well, I'm here. Josh. Josh, thanks so much for joining me. How you doing today, bro?

Josh Chasteen (02:30):
Doing good, man. Just got done with basketball practice and, uh, happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

Nick Clason (02:36):
Yeah, yeah, man. So glad to have you. Good to reconnect too. Um, you know it, I was just talking to you offline for a second about how we, uh, or how I was making this, this ebook, um, and I logged on to grab a screenshot and it was your, like, one of your tos that popped up, and as soon as I saw that I was like, oh, yeah, Josh has this incredible TikTok story. So would you mind just walking us through what happened to you? It was about a year ago at this time, or maybe a little longer. Like what happened? How did it go viral? Like all this crazy stuff, like let us know.

Josh Chasteen (03:11):
Yeah. Well, things really got crazy a year ago, but it actually like dates back to 2019. So like fall of 2019, um, I hear about TikTok sounds fun, people doing dances. I'd never seen it. And so, um, I'm a junior high health teacher. I had six classes throughout the day. And so what I did like, and I just kinda like to do this random stuff where I kind of talk to kids about what's going on before we actually get into like, you know, stuff we're supposed to be doing in class. And so mm-hmm. , I was like, I spent the first five minutes of every bell like just asking them like, Hey, tell me about this TikTok app, you know? And so we're like talking through it. Every bells kind of telling me a little bit about what it is. And, um, so by the end of the day, you know, the kids were kinda like, you should get a TikTok.

Josh Chasteen (03:56):
And so we kind of came up with this plan, like, okay, well how about like, what if every Tuesday I did like TikTok Tuesday, where um, I either do a TikTok with like a group of students or another teacher or whatever. And I'm like, yeah, that's awesome. And so it was like, okay, whatever, you know, day or two goes by. And I'm like, I don't really think about it again. But there was like these, um, two girls that would like come by every day during lunch and they'd be like, Hey, you ready to start your TikTok? We'll help you do it. like, no, go away. I don't wanna do this right now. . And then they just kept coming back and finally I was like, okay, come here. Let's, let's do this. So they downloaded the app on my phone. I'd still never seen a TikTok at this point.

Josh Chasteen (04:32):
Um, and they're like, okay, well let's film one. I'm like, well, what do you do? They're like, well, I don't know, like, what's your favorite song? I'm like, uh, I mean, yeah, by Usher, you know, that's like the ultimate hype song . And so they're like, okay. So they're like, all right, we're just gonna film you doing, I teach health. So they're like, we're just gonna film you doing like the day in life of like a health teacher just do like whatever. So we're doing this like off the wall stuff and we're putting it to Usher Usher's. Yeah. And so they post it. I'm like, okay, cool. Well, everybody, like throughout school that day is just going insane. They're like, Hey, we saw your TikTok, saw you on TikTok. And um, you know, like, so I have had, you know, thousands of students throughout the year mm-hmm. .

Josh Chasteen (05:14):
And so at this time, this is 2019, there's no teachers on TikTok, you know, I'm like the pioneer of teacher TikTok apparently. Yeah. So there's no teachers on there. So like, first of all, like all the students in the school district, you know, like we have about 450 kids per grade. So all the kids at the junior high and the high school, you know, are getting on this. And so it's got a couple thousand views and they're like, you have, TikTok has a couple thousand views. I'm like, is that a lot? Like, I don't really know . And they're like, you have like a thousand followers. I'm like, once again, is that a lot? That doesn't seem like a lot to me. They're like, no, you, that really is. So I'm like, guy,

Nick Clason (05:45):
And this is from that very first one. This

Josh Chasteen (05:47):
Is just the first one. It was like that first day, you know? So I was like, okay. So I like went home that day or maybe the next day and I'm like, let's see what talk's about, I had never even opened it myself. So I'm just like scrolling through and I'm hooked. Like TikTok is like the most addicting thing ever. You can just get stuck like scrolling and it's never ending. And so this is me, I'm just watching this stuff and I'm like, this is pretty funny. And I'm like, I, I think I could like put some of this, these like trending things. I keep seeing these common things, which I'm like, oh, this is like a trend. I'm like, I could put like a teacher spin to this. So I did a couple of those and it was probably like my, I don't know, third or fourth one, um, that like really like blew up.

Josh Chasteen (06:27):
Like I just, they kept getting bigger and I'm getting thousands and thousands of views. Um, there was one that I did about like getting out of a te like canceling a test. And that one got, you know, I don't know how many views it got. It wasn't quite a million, but then I did one that was like, when your principal catches you making tos and it was like me and these two students, we were just filming it and it was like us doing like this at the time, you know, it was like this TikTok, you know, this was like the thing. So we were doing it and then like I stopped it and then I wanted the next clip to be like when this beat dropped like my principal looking at us through the window, like the classroom window. And so my principal, he's very stoic, like just looks like he's always angry, you know?

Josh Chasteen (07:12):
And so he had just come out from bus studios. The end of the day I'm like, I gotta get this like second shot of him looking in the window through my classroom door. And he did not seem like he was in the mood, but I was like, Hey, can I bother you for a second? I just want you to look through the window. I'm just gonna film it and then I just want you to give me your normal face. All you gotta do is look through the window. So he does it. And then, uh, it's great. I post it. The thing went insane. Like it had 50,000 views within like the first two hours. I'm getting all these followers. And uh, people thought it was hilarious. Um, and so it was like crazy. It was like really messing with my mind, you know? Cause I'm like, oh my gosh, I've got all this pressure now I've got this video with a million views.

Josh Chasteen (07:51):
I don't even know how to work the app. Like I still have like students filming it for me. Um, and so I'm like, you know what? I remember waking up one Saturday morning. I'm like, this is too much. It's stressing me out cuz now I have this pressure, like I gotta film more stuff. Um, but the kids were obviously loving it and I just, I'm like, I woke up in the morning, I'm like, I'm not doing this anymore. And I get on Instagram and Instagram I had it set up where if you get messages from people that you don't know, it doesn't like notify me. But I like just saw that I had all these messages and I open up Instagram and it's like, bars, stool sports. We wanna partner with you, we want a licensing deal with this. And it was like all these other random companies that were reaching out to me and I was like, what in the heck?

Josh Chasteen (08:32):
This is insane. And so so they found your TikTok and went and and messaged you on Instagram? Yeah, they were messaging me on, uh, on Instagram. Yeah. Cause my Instagram was connected with it. And so I was like, well I don't know, maybe I can keep this going for a little bit, you know? And, uh, . So I, I don't know, I just kept posting stuff and um, would kind of like see what the common trends were and put a, a teacher spin on it. And um, so I signed like a licensing deal on a couple different tos where it was like, and that kind of gave me more notoriety. Like Barsol, Barsol Sports had one where I canceled a test and it was like they had all the rights to it and there was like no money in it, but it was like it was on their Snapchat and all this stuff.

Josh Chasteen (09:12):
And so it just like started blown up. So I got to like 50,000 followers Yeah. On TikTok. And then Covid Hits and all these other teachers get on TikTok now the market's saturated. Mm-hmm. , I got nothing to film cuz I'm not in school. I don't have my students there giving me ideas and filming for me. And I don't want my wife to be like, you know, Hey will you film this? She doesn't wanna sit there and be like, you know, so you know Andy, so she's like not super into it. So like I kind of went like stagnant there for a while and I don't know, we get back into school in 2020 and I'm like posting some stuff here and there, but it's just kind of like a rough year. Um, you know, cuz it's like we're wearing masks and we're doing different things and the kids were kind of down.

Josh Chasteen (09:55):
And so we were behind cuz we had like been shut down periodically at random dates. So we were like not on schedule. So we had this like test that we were gonna take. It's the hardest test of the year. There was no way my kids were gonna be ready for it. I was not gonna give 'em the test, but I was like trying to make 'em sweat it a little bit. I was like, well maybe I gotta like post something on TikTok. If a pro sports team comments, it'll get you guys out of the test. Like I said, I was not giving it to him, but I had 50,000 followers. I was confident one pro sports team would comment. So, um, I'm like, Hey, let's do this. You know, whatever. Well it's like Tuesday of the week of break the bell rings to go from homeroom to First Bell.

Josh Chasteen (10:30):
I'm like, oh crap, I forgot I was going to, um, post this TikTok, I gotta do it today if I'm gonna do it. So I like pull out my phone in between the bells, put it up there, put jingle bells to it. It's an eight second video. It's just me looking at the camera. I don't say anything. I post the little caption. If a pro sports team comments, then I'll let my students get out of the test. Posted it by fourth Bell. The Detroit Lions had commented, so everybody was rejoicing. I'm like, phew, I don't have to like find another reason to get 'em out of the test . And then by the end of the day, like, you know, I think it'd gotten up to like a million views. Um, the Dallas Mavericks had commented the Seattle Mariners, whatever it was cool. Well, the Lions thing, like were te they were terrible last year, which shout out to the Detroit Lions.

Josh Chasteen (11:14):
They're in playoff contention. They're doing awesome. Dan Camp was doing great , but um, they really got the algorithm going. I think this is really, really sparked it. All of this was like timing things. Mm-hmm. . Um, I posted another TikTok like right around that time, um, about, um, like it's one that I post every December about how kids put off like doing homework until the end of a semester. So I posted that one right after I posted this one. And so they were kind of like working with each other. Um, but the one about getting out of a test, um, the lions were the first to comment. And so that was the one that was at, at the top. And so everybody's just bashing the lions, like he said, a pro sports team, not you guys. The lions suck, you know? So the lions are just getting absolutely obliterated in the comment section because it's like a pro sports team, not the Detroit Lions, but that like sparked the algorithm I'm confident of.

Josh Chasteen (12:08):
Mm-hmm. . Yeah. I mean, and so we're talking millions and millions of views and so now it's popping up on all these other like professional sports teams pages and they're commenting. And I remember being, it was like probably the next night I was at a friend's house. We had a little get together like for Christmas mm-hmm. and uh, I'm like pulling this up. I'm like, whoa, pizza hu commented. I'm like, the NFL just commented. ESPN just commented. I'm like going nuts. And everybody's like, what? You know, we don't know about TikTok. I'm like, this is insane. Everybody's commenting. And so it was up to like 44 million views or whatever like by the weekend. Um, and then it was like everything I was posting was like gold. Like these kids were like, it was the last daybreak. They're like, Hey, can we post a TikTok with you?

Josh Chasteen (12:45):
I'm like, the bell's gonna ring in two minutes. Okay, let's do this and we'll put it to a trending sound. 11 million views. Yeah. Like it was just, everything I was posting was insane. And so it became a whirlwind, like all these local news stations are like interviewing me. ESPN, a producer at ESPN interviewed me is like, we wanna have you live on Sports Center on Saturday. I'm like, is this legit? Like, this doesn't seem real. Um, I get, and I felt like it was just for the dumbest thing. It was an eight second video with me not talking. And so, you know, the Detroit Lions had me up to a game. I was on the field, um, during the Lions Packers game. It was funny. I'm on the field and they're like, Hey, uh, go out in between the quarter, stand in the end zone.

Josh Chasteen (13:24):
We're gonna get a picture of you in the end zone. And um, the Detroit, like their comment was roll out the TV cart. And so I filmed another TikTok where I'm rolling out this big 80 inch tv cuz I'm like, I wanna like let people know the kids got out of a test. The lions commented, let's make a video in response to that about the TV cart. So I emailed all the teachers in the school. I'm like, does anybody have a TV cart? Like one of those old school one, nobody had one except our STEM teacher had an 80 inch flat screen tv. I'm like, this will work. Well, I rolled that out and that blew things up too because people are like, that's a TV cart nowadays, like that 80 inch flat screen. And so, and you're like, no, not really. We don't even have beef .

Josh Chasteen (14:03):
Yeah. So they, uh, they had me up to a game. And so anyway, uh, they had me out on the field in between quarters and um, they said they just wanted to take a picture while they like had me up on the jumbotron, they showed the ESPN clip, they rolled out an old school TV cart like the lions mascot did. And they like gave me like a thousand dollars check, you know? So I'm like, oh my gosh, this is insane. So it was crazy. Like all of these things that happened, like Papa John's is like, we wanna sponsor a pizza party for your students. Pizza Hut sponsored a pizza party for like, my staff. Um, like Instacart just sent like a ton of snacks for all of our students. Like, I mean, it was insane. All of these like little partnerships and all these brands were getting involved and yeah. Uh, I think like 150 to 200 different like brands or, you know, verified creators commented and, you know, even like Luke Combs and Paul Abdul and all these people got involved. So it was insane.

Nick Clason (15:00):
Yeah, man. Yeah. Well I think like, there's a lot in there, but, uh, like you saying you got on in 2019 when it was like the wild, wild West and it was like, yeah, you could go viral in a second. Like, now, one of the disadvantages I would say of TikTok is a, it's becoming a much more saturated market. 2020 pushed a lot of people to it. Mm-hmm. . Um, and so now like you really do have to like, put in a lot of work, you know, to grow, um, on TikTok. And so, you know, whoever's listening, whatever, like you still do it. Um, but every, every social media is going that direction. And it's actually interesting cuz YouTube is trying to replicate it. And I just looked at our YouTube analytics. Today's, I'm recording this on January 2nd. I started posting yesterday. Our church just changed their name yesterday.

Nick Clason (15:48):
So I've been holding off on YouTube to, to align it up with the name change. And so I just started posting shorts and the first three all went up over a thousand. Wow. Um, and I think, so it's like every, every social media is like going all in on these like short form things. But, you know, TikTok is, it, it takes work now. And so you say all that. Um, I'm just curious like what , you know, I know your wife, but people listening don't, like, what's, what's your wife thinking through all of this? Like, is she like rolling her eyes? Like you, this is ridiculous that you're getting all this notoriety? Or does she think it's fun? Like what's the, what's her sort of like, uh, take on the whole thing?

Josh Chasteen (16:26):
Yeah, probably a combination of both. I mean, I think that is fun. Like everywhere we go, you know, people would say something to her. She had friends from California that are messaging her like, this is crazy. Like, I know somebody famous now and she's like, well, you don't know anybody famous. You know me, who's like married to this guy. And you know, anywhere we went, like, we would go out to eat at Red Robin and the hostess is like, Hey, I see you on TikTok. You know, people were always coming up and it was like really just kind of like celebrity status and, um, the thing that she didn't love. So I remember one night we're eating dinner. This is like the week that everything's getting crazy. There's a ring on the doorbell, it's, I don't know, probably seven o'clock at night. And then she comes in, she's like, Hey, um, Fox News is outside. I was like, what? I was like, I'm in my pajamas, like eating dinner.

Nick Clason (17:12):
How did they

Josh Chasteen (17:13):
Even fighting me? I, that's a great question. And I'm like, are you serious? And I like, go up and there's this dude out there in a suit. I was like, Hey. He's like, Hey, we're running this story tonight. Like, uh, that's awesome. Is it cool if we like interview you? I'm like, well, can I like go throw on some pants and like ? It was just insane. And so she was like bothered by that. Like, now these people are coming to our house. And um, so actually the public relations lady in our school district actually like, took on a lot of the stuff for me. She's like, I will field all these calls and stuff for you. I was like, okay, cool, thank you. Nice, nice. So, um, yeah, but it was, that was pretty funny and I don't know, I mean, it's died down. Like I think that Yeah, yeah. Uh, you know, but in that time it was just a little chaotic, uh, in . I don't know. I think she likes it, but at the same time she's just like, Hey, I'm my own person too, you know?

Nick Clason (18:02):
Yeah. Yeah. I'm not, yeah. I'm not just your wife. Yeah.

Josh Chasteen (18:05):
And

Nick Clason (18:05):
Exactly the other celebrity guy's wife. Yeah. I get that. So, shifting gears a little bit, Josh, like w I remember when you, because like, so I'm in ministry and you're a believer, like you, you love and follow Jesus. And I mean, I was youth pastor and you were one of my volunteers at the first church I worked at. And so, um, but, but even before I, I worked there. I remember when we were in college together, you told me, um, you felt called to like ministry or called to like reach in the next generation. Um, but you told me like I w I feel called to do this in the avenue of like, education through being a teacher because just the amount of exposure and the, the sheer volume and number of students that I'm gonna have an opportunity to reach is greater than just an average like youth pastor. And I just remember you saying that. And so as, as I'm thinking about this from a connecting with students standpoint, talk a little bit about how your TikTok account and presence has allowed you to, um, connect with different students, um, make relational inroads and stuff like that.

Josh Chasteen (19:14):
Yeah. Uh, there's a lot of things there. I mean, I guess the first thing I would say is like, you know, TikTok is not this like, you know, magic potion. If you just get on TikTok, you're gonna have all the students that are, you know? Yeah. So I mean, my big thing is building relationships. Like, um, one of the things, you know, you and I both know Doug Franklin, uh, well mm-hmm. , one of the things he said a couple years ago that I never forget is like, if you want to connect with any student, talk to them about their favorite topic in every student has the same favorite topic. Do you know what it is? Themselves.

Josh Chasteen (19:47):
Themselves. Yeah. Yeah. And so, um, I love just like talking to students and like getting to know, Hey, what'd you, this is what I do every class bell. Like, or every, like Monday I spend the first couple minutes of every Monday's class, Hey, what'd you guys do this weekend? Somebody raise your hand. Tell me what you did on Friday. Yeah. What are you guys doing this weekend? You know? And then like gathering information and then it's like I get to know students and then talking about that, Hey, you're really into this. How's this been going? How's that? And like the kids, like, now that I've been in this for a while, like really remember that mm-hmm. and it's like, um, you know, I get letters and stuff written back and things where it's like, you know, you really like cared about every student. And it's just like, I don't know that I really went above and beyond other than just like getting to know them.

Josh Chasteen (20:29):
And I think that like in my field, in, in any field, even youth ministry, it's easy to like, Hey, here's the tasks I have to do. I have to do this, this, this, this. Mm-hmm. . And we miss like, the whole relational aspect in it. And it's really about like people and like loving people and getting to know them. And so, um, so first of all, I think that that's like a strong suit of mine is just being able to connect with kids. The TikTok thing has helped, but I could see how it could also hinder, there's this word out there that kids use cringe. Okay. So , you, uh, there's this tough balance where it's like, yeah, I want to put stuff out there that's funny, but I don't want to be cringey. And it's really hard. Yeah. Um, so like, that's why I'm like, you gotta be yourself.

Josh Chasteen (21:12):
Like, that's the main thing. Like when I try to do, like, see things that are funny that other people do and I do it, it comes across as cringey. So like, you have to be authentic. Like if you're funny, be funny. If you're not funny, don't try to be funny, you know? I don't know. That's good. So, um, there's that. And I think that, uh, for the most part I've stayed out of it. And the ones, the videos that have done really well are like, where I'm like just looking at a camera and I have a caption that's like trying to get people to respond to stuff. Mm-hmm. or like, I am being like overly nerdy where it's like, I'm not trying to be cool, I'm just Yeah. Being stupid. And that's like the point of the video. Yeah. So, um, you know, I don't know, I'm trying to remember like what your original question was. Like how do you use TikTok to reach more people? Um, you know, I think that, I don't think it's like the number one thing, but I think it's supplemental to like what's already being done. Mm-hmm. .

Nick Clason (22:04):
No, that's good. I mean, like, really the whole premise of, of this podcast for me is like, there's a lot of, there's a lot of like, digital opportunities for us, you know? Um, and I think that at least some of the ministries I've been in, especially where I came from, like, uh, I, when I moved there, COVID was happening mm-hmm. immediately. And so as we were kind of finding our way out of it, we had pivoted pretty hard into a really like, big, like, digital strategy. And so as, as things were starting to sort of settle down, things were starting to come back, there was this really big argument between like in person or digital and it was pivoted against itself. Like it's either all in person or it's either all digital. And I just think that there's, there's more nuance to it, and it, that's where the idea of this hybrid comes in because you're a real teacher with real human students and real human relationships.

Nick Clason (22:56):
So you have that already going. And I think most people listening to this, if you're a ministry leader of some sort, like you're gonna have that with your students or your congregation or whatever, but you can still kind of show up, um, and use some of these other tools to, to be present, you know? And yeah. And you're, as a teacher, it's, it's different than, you know, like someone who's in in ministry. Cause you're trying to like, actually like share the message of Jesus and stuff like that. You're probably gonna get in trouble for things like that, you know, but, but because you, uh, have that kind of presence, I think it probably, like you said, as fun, you got students who are like, let's do this thing. Like let's download it. And I know I've had experiences where, like I post a lot of the tos on my ministry account, but I'll have, I'll have students who are like, we need to do this trend.

Nick Clason (23:42):
And I'm like, all right, do like, let's do it right now. Like, let's make it happen. Um, and I told them, I remember last year I told them I thought it was stupid and I told 'em all the reasons why it wasn't gonna work, but then by that night they're both like, screenshotting me, like our account. They're like, this is the number one video on our TikTok account because like, they just know better than I'm going to know. You know? Like, yeah. And so that's, I think that's another principle too in your story is like lean into what, like the knowledge that students have, like use them, get them on screen if it, if you're like, allowed to insurance wise and whatever and whatnot. And so, um, that's just, that's sort of the, the thing I love about, like your story is that you are doing this in a mini, like, not ministry, not for ministry, right. But like, it helps sort of aid in their relationships and stuff that, that are going on, um, with you being a teacher, people seeing you, you know, when they're on the bus or at home or, you know, whatever the case might be. Yeah. So

Josh Chasteen (24:41):
It's pretty cool. And I would say too, like, you know, you talked about how it like takes some work and stuff like that. I kind of prided myself on like, I'm not putting a lot of effort into this. Like yeah, I don't own a ring light, I have no editing apps. Um, yeah, I filmed everything on an iPhone seven up until like, the one went insane last year. And then like my camera kind of went out and I actually, I did my e s ESPN interview on FaceTime on my iPhone seven. Uh, but I made a little bit of money, so I'm like, all right, I'll buy a new phone, put it into this. So up until then, I mean, I, I, and even still I, um, don't really have a lot of this stuff, but all that to say is there was like a brief moment, like when I officially blew up, or like first initially is what I meant to say initially blew up that I was like, okay, I gotta keep trying to pump out content and do all this stuff. And it was like, those videos always did really poorly when I tried really hard mm-hmm. . But it's like, when I'm just me and doing things that I love and make videos that are fun to me to make, then those are usually the ones that do well. I think it translates.

Nick Clason (25:40):
No, that's, that's really good feedback too, right? Like, you have almo like to whoever's listening, you have all the tools probably already in your pocket. You don't have to go get a bunch of gear, you don't have to go learn a bunch of new skills. And it, as TikTok has gotten bigger, like there, it has more and more power now too. You know, you can edit more, you can add more effects, you can do all sort of stuff. And so you don't have to get crazy. And that's, that's a thing. I think social media's really just like leveling the playing field. It's like, Hey, everything's about video. You can post, hold up a video and talk directly into it. Do a funny thing, do a trend, and boom, all of a sudden like you're, you're there. Like, you don't have to learn a new skill.

Nick Clason (26:19):
You don't have to go to school for graphic design. You know, I even, I even think about when you and I went to college together, I wonder how many of those people that have like, video degrees or graphic design degrees, like how much of that's like obsolete now, you know, because Right. So many, so many tools are out there. So, alright. So last thing just real fast, like what's the funniest, uh, TikTok or what's like the one that you're like the most proud of or one that you're like, this was, this was the most fun for me to do, or most fun for me to film? Or funniest trend or what's, what's such like one TikTok that you've done that you're like, this is my favorite and here's why.

Josh Chasteen (26:55):
Yeah, that's a great question. Um, I think , I don't know, there's so many. Um, it's usually the ones where I get a lot of people involved. Like, so there was one that we did where it was like, um, I don't even remember what the song is, but it's like you show like somebody's yearbook picture and then you show them now mm-hmm. . And so we did one of those with, um, our staff, like maybe that was last year. Like our teaching staff probably like six or seven teachers. Uh, some of my good friends. And so it was like I had 'em bring in their yearbook, I'd show their picture and then I'd show them now. And so, but it's just like fun because it's like the more people that are involved, the more fun it is. Yeah. And so it's kind of one of those, I'm like, I don't even care if this like, ends up being like viral or whatever. Yeah. It's like I had fun making it and actually that one did pretty well cuz I think it got like half a million views or something like that. But, um, so I don't know what, yeah. Like I said, the ones where I'm involving a lot more are usually the better.

Nick Clason (27:53):
Yeah. That's fun. All right, last thing, um, I didn't prep you for this, so, so sorry. But as, as a teacher, um, and someone who interacts with the next generation every single day, what's one thing that you wish, like pastors churches or youth pastors knew about teenagers or about the next generation? Like what's just one thing you're like, Hey, I wish you all knew this, or I wish you'd stop doing this, or I wish, like, I wish you knew this about what I see from my unique perspective as someone not in like a church or ministry related field.

Josh Chasteen (28:25):
Yeah, I think that, uh, this generation like is pretty good at like telling when people are being real and when people aren't mm-hmm. mm-hmm. . So I think, you know, just, uh, be real. Um, but also I would say, you know, I kinda already mentioned this earlier, like put a big emphasis on getting to know students because there's just a lot of hurt. Like, it's just amazing to me the amount of hurt that's out there. Like a lot of like, just junk that kids are going through. They're going through things that I've never could even imagine going through, but you don't know that on the surface. And so it's kind of like really, um, building those bridges and like tearing down walls, like getting to know them, um mm-hmm. where like some of this stuff starts coming out and then, I don't know, there, there's so many kids out there that just need like a trusting, caring adult in their life. And uh, and it's not a ton of work to like make that happen. I mean, it is work cuz relationships take time, but, um, yeah, I mean, just get to know kids.

Nick Clason (29:24):
Yeah. That's good man. That's good. Yeah. All right, bro, well that is it. That's all I got unless there's anything else that you wanna say. Um, I appreciate your time and, uh, thanks for hopping on, bro.

Josh Chasteen (29:35):
Yeah. Don't get too addicted to TikTok. That's the only thing I would say. Set, set some screen limits or else you'll go down a bad rabbit hole, but that's it.
If you're there all day. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. But no, thanks for having me. This is fun.

Nick Clason (29:46):
Well, hey, I hope you found that interesting and fun and just kind of an opportunity to kinda look and see, um, at what it is like to, uh, have a tweet or not tweet a TikTok, kind of go crazy and kind of go viral. So obviously that's not necessarily what we're all, you know, maybe like vying for or looking for, but it is, uh, it's a crazy story. And, um, more than that, I think what Josh's message was about, like, don't, don't just, you know, settle in for all the technology, but really get to know people. I think that's the heartbeat of most of us as ministry leaders, pastors, and so I, I just hope that you find that conversation helpful, useful, encouraging. Uh, hey, if you have not, again, like I said at the top of the show, go grab that ebook.

Nick Clason (30:31):
The link is in the show notes. I also have a complete video guide to that, if that's something that's helpful, uh, for you to watch, uh, to, to go through posting your first TikTok. And also if you found this helpful or if you grab that book and you find it helpful, share it with a friend. Um, leave a rating or a review. Uh, you can do everything and get all the show notes and transcripts and everything that you need to find over http://www.hybridministry.xyz. You can come hang out with me on YouTube or TikTok link to both of those in the show notes. And until next time, we'll talk to you all later. Bye.

Episode 026: Have I already Ruined my TikTok Account? A Complete Guide to Posting a TikTok from Start to Finish

Nick Clason — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 04:00:00 -0600

SUMMARY
In this episode, Nick walks through the step-by-step and page by page menu options for posting a TikTok. Whether you're versed in this or this is your first time opening the app, this guide will take you from start to finish! And Nick shares some tips on what and how to share to other social media platforms.

This also comes with a complete digital downloadable guide: https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/ebook
Or check out the complete YouTube Video on it: https://youtu.be/oxBn-p9O-eg
As always, every episode available with FREE transcripts at: http://www.hybridministry.xyz
And hang with Nick on TikTok at: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
FREE Checklist: https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/free-social-media-checklist

TIMECODES
TIMECODES
00:00-00:53 – Intro
00:53-03:11 - Why TikTok, Reels and Short Form Video?
03:11-03:47- - Logging Into TikTok for the First Time
03:47-05:56 - Video Menu Options
05:56-07:03 - Profile Menu Options
07:03-12:07 - Creating a Video
12:07-17:21 - Editing the Video
17:21-19:34 - Time to Post it!
19:34-20:46 - Make sure you do this ONE THING before posting to other platforms
20:46- - Outro

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:01):
So have I already ruined my TikTok account? Here's a guide on how to post TikTok from start to finish. Hey everyone, my name is Nick Clason. I am the host of the Hybrid Ministry podcast, and this is a little special YouTube slash podcast episode I'm excited to bring to you on the framework for posting a TikTok in 2023. Now, there's a lot of things out there about like SEO and keywords and strategies and tips and hacks, and in fact, I actually have a checklist that I have pre created for all social media, just a basic like, uh, have you done this? Have you done that for posting to social media at your church? You can get the description or you can get the link for that in the description, the video down below, uh, or in the show notes, hybrid ministry.xyz. But why TikTok? Like why of all the platforms that we have, why TikTok?

Nick Clason (01:01):
And here's why. Every platform right now, Facebook, Instagram reels, YouTube shorts, they are all going after this short form video content. It's like lightning in a bottle. It's so easy to go viral. Um, and when I say easy, it's like you post the dumbest thing and it goes viral, but then you spend a lot of time and effort and energy on something that you think is amazing and it gets like 14 views. And so the reality is it's this very finicky, very like, hard to like land what is going to go viral, but when you see other social medias copying another social platform's kind of bread and butter, it's worth noting and it's worth, uh, going all in on. And so when every single major social platform is copying TikTok in their, uh, their, their for you sort of algorithm, you need to make that a priority.

Nick Clason (02:00):
It's, I would liken it to win Instagram stole stories from Snapchat, and now TikTok is actually stealing B reels, uh, post, now they call it the now feature in TikTok. So, uh, if you've never logged into TikTok, uh, or you have, and you know, you should, you've heard me talk about the importance of short form video, but you, you open it and it's overwhelming. You don't know what to do or you think you know what to do, but then you get kind of turned around editing videos or whatever and whatnot. This is meant to be a, uh, a thorough guide to every feature available in TikTok. Now, some caveats, I've really only been using TikTok for about three to six months now. Um, I too is just as much of a novice when I opened it. They're constantly evolving and changing, and I'm not even a hundred percent sure if I know all the features. I tried to comb through each and every feature as I was in preparation for this video, but there are several I haven't even used. And so

Nick Clason (02:59):
I just wanna be clear with that. Like, uh, I'm still at a very basic level, and so if, if I can do it, what we're doing in our church, you too can, can get up some very basic sort of content. So when you log into TikTok for the very first time, a video is probably going to start blaring at you at full volume. Okay? That can be a little bit disconcerting and throw you off. You're a rocker because most other platforms keep videos muted. TikTok for whatever reason is the opposite, so turn your volume all the way down, or if you just tap the screen, the video, whatever video they play, um, it'll pause it. Now, uh, if you're getting on TikTok for the first time and they're feeding you things that you don't wanna see, they're not, you're not interested in, hold that video down and just click, not interested.

Nick Clason (03:43):
Do that a few times and you're gonna teach the algorithm what you want to see. So when you, uh, are sitting there looking at a video, video that TikTok fed to you, you have, uh, several different video menu options. And so I want to, uh, run through what those are. The first one is you can, on the right hand side of your screen, you can follow the creator. Uh, that little plus sign right there will give you a, uh, follow, um, or not follow kind of option. Now, if you look at the very, very top of your screen, you're going to be looking at either following or for you, you're either in your following algorithm, all the people that you're following, or you're in your for U algorithm. TikTok will almost naturally bring you to the for U algorithm. So just be aware of that.

Nick Clason (04:34):
Even when you click follow the people, the videos that you're seeing may not be coming from followers. That's, again, that's one of the things that makes this algorithm unique. Um, you can, like the video, that's the heart. You can comment on it, you can save it. That's a little save, uh, little bookmark looking icon there. You can share it. That's the arrow out. You can send it to people within the TikTok app. You can, you can download the video and save it, or you can copy a link and send it. Uh, and then the bottom, uh, icon there, a little round one kinda looks like a, a record turning. That's the sound, that's the audio that is being used. Could be like an original audio from the creator, or it could be like a sound or a trend or something like that. All of that is to you.

Nick Clason (05:15):
On the right hand side of the screen at the bottom, you have five menu options. You have your home button and the subcategories for that, like I said, up at the top of the following. And the four you, then you have the, now that's TikTok, s b real copycat. It's almost identical to what Be Real is doing. Uh, you got the plus button there, then very dead center, that's your create button, okay? Then next you have your little envelope, that's your inbox. And for there you get your notifications, dms, likes, follows, et cetera. That's all the things that you, uh, when people interact with your content or your videos. And then finally, the last thing on the very right hand bottom corner, uh, is your profile. That's where you have your videos. Um, once you click on that, you'll see, uh, another kind of menu across the top.

Nick Clason (06:02):
Uh, the left most option is your videos, everything that you've posted kind of on your grid. The next one are your private videos. The next one are your saved videos. Remember that bookmark icon. And personally, I like to use that as a way to save ideas. So if I'm going through TikTok and there's a sound or an idea that I think is fun or interesting that I can use later, I'll save it. That's then where I'll find it. And what I'll personally do is I'll save that on my personal account, and then I will share that video to my ministry account. Then I will switch accounts, log over into my ministry account, go into my dms, and get that video from myself, and then I'll use that, um, either that sound or that idea or that trend or whatever I need from that video, maybe a filter, whatever that I'll use to them post.

Nick Clason (06:46):
Um, moving on on that menu, you got your liked videos. And then finally, um, there at the top, you can edit your profile, your link, all the other necessary and pertinent information there. Okay. Now, how do you, that's just simply viewing a video and kind of navigating through your basic menu items. So how do you then create a video? So the way to create a video is on your home screen. You can tap that plus button, all right? And once you tap that plus button, you're given several options. All right? At the very, very top center, uh, there's the option to add sound. You can add a sound that way by clicking it and searching for a sound. Or like I said, when you see that record player on a video, you can click on that. Um, and once you're, once you click on that, there will be a, it'll pull up all the videos, uh, that have used that sound.

Nick Clason (07:37):
You can click use this sound option. That is personally, I think the easiest way to do that. That's why I like to save those videos and then share them so I don't have to go and try and find those sounds. Again, that's my way of kind of archiving and remembering where those sounds are. Now one thing worth noting, if you're on a personal account, you can use any sound you want. If you are a business account, those are much more limiting. There are ways around it, um, like recording the video and then in post-production in like Adobe Premier Pro or something like that, dubbing that sound over. Then when you post it, it's gonna be technically an original sound. It's not gonna come from the trend sound. Uh, there are pros and cons. Uh, I've talked about this in past podcast episodes. There are pros and cons to, um, personal and business accounts.

Nick Clason (08:23):
Uh, you just gotta choose what matters most to you. I think probably the biggest downside of not doing a business account is your link and bio isn't really a link. It's just typed out and people have to like, then go type it into a browser so they can't click and go to your stuff. That's a pretty big downside, and you don't get as many analytics. Um, you still can see views and likes and those types of things by going to each individual video, but you're not able to see trends. And so once things start getting going for you, you probably do wanna swap over to a business account. Just know that it's gonna limit the sounds that you are able to use as a business account on your TikTok platform. All right, so you've clicked to create video. At the bottom of your screen, you're gonna have this big red record button that is gonna probably feel very familiar to you.

Nick Clason (09:09):
It's gonna look like a camera phone or something like that. Right above that, that red button you have the, you have a thing that says 15 s. That's for 15 seconds to the left of that. If you slide 30, uh, or 60 s I'm sorry, and then slide again, you have three m three minutes, okay? Uh, you can shave the time down after you record. So if you don't know how long it's gonna be and you just want to go the three minutes, then if you don't take that full time, it's not gonna post the full three minutes like black at the end of your video, right? So, uh, just know that going into it, if you're using a sound, like if a sound, you click use sound and it's already loaded at the top of your video there. When you click 15 s or 60 s, um, you switch to that often right below it, it'll say, this sound will only allow you to record for a maximum of seven seconds or something like that.

Nick Clason (09:59):
All right? And so then, you know, oh, I can just stick with the 15 seconds and I don't need all the other stuff. Right? Okay. So, um, to the left of the record button are, is your effects menu. So there, that's where you're gonna get like your green screen, or right now there's a delay mirror effect that's kind of trending on TikTok that's there. Um, things that like rotate through on your head that my TikTok account personally, like I do this thing for football and all the NFL teams rotate through. I have so many views on those, it's ridiculous, but that's what's helping kind of grow my audience. Um, that's where you're gonna get those types of effects. To the right of that is your upload button, okay? That's where you would upload a previously recorded video or photo from your phone, from your camera roll that you already shot outside of the TikTok app, for example.

Nick Clason (10:46):
Um, and so then at the top right you have, uh, the flip button that's just simply to flip your camera forward facing, rear facing beneath that you have, uh, your speed. So you have different speeds, 0.3 x 0.5 x one x, two x, and three x, uh, for recording speeds. Uh, below that you have the retouch option, full disclosure, and never used that thing. It's kinda like a filter thing. Beneath it, you have another filter option. This one I think is more about image, less about the specifics of like a retouch sort of thing. Beneath that, you have your timer. That's where you can like set your phone down and give it like a three second head start, so you can walk away from it and do a dance or whatever the case might be. Um, you have a three second, ten second option. When you do that.

Nick Clason (11:29):
Beneath that you have your q and a option. That's where sometimes you'll see a person's comment on the screen and you can reply with video to the comment. All right? So once you're ready to record, those are all your menu options. Now that we're ready to record, tap that record button. When you wanna start, and when you wanna stop immediately to the right of the button, you have two menu options that are now available. After recording, you have delete, it looks like, kind of like a backspace button. If you want to delete what you recorded, start over, try again. You can do that. There. You also have a red check mark. Um, and that's where you then accept the video. And now you move on into the next sort of editing phase of the, the video. Now, your new menu, once you're into the editing phase, in the top middle of the section, you have your sound.

Nick Clason (12:15):
If you haven't added a sound yet, that's where you can add a sound. Um, if you've already recorded a sound, a video with the sound, that's where you could delete that sound if you no longer want that sound mm-hmm. on the right hand side of the screen, um, you have, you are at the very top. You have your text on screen option, that's where you click that and you can type that out, um, on your left. Then you now have three different menu options, um, from your, from your text editor, right? You have the square with the A around it. If you, if you select that, that will add a border to the text on the screen. So it might be easier to read if you select it. Again, that will put a full background on that. And if you select it, again, it'll add a background, but now it's transparent and if you select it again, it'll go back to your original without any of those effects on it.

Nick Clason (13:04):
Then to the right of that, you have your paragraph alignment, you have center, then left alignment, then right alignment. And then to the right of that, you have your person with a speech. That's where you often get that voiceover effect. That says, um, that, that's used as a hook. A lot of times on videos, uh, if you choose that, it will make that, um, text on screen. It will turn it into, uh, a voiceover. And there, once you select that, you'll be given, uh, different options, different types of sounds to play around with. Um, once you select that, the menus you have are recommended motion creative vocals. Those are categories for the types of sounds, and then sub options within those. Okay? To determine what your text, uh, looks like, um, you have the classic option. You have the typewriter option, the handwriting option, neon option, and the CIF option.

Nick Clason (13:57):
And those. So you got your, your a, your paragraph, your speech, and then to the right of that, that's where you get your text, um, looking options. Okay? And then from there you can select colors and they do swipe from right to left so that you can pick which color you want on, on, on screen there. All right. So when you're done, select, done, pretty self-explanatory. The last thing that you can do then is once that, uh, text is now on the screen, if you select it, it'll pop up three menu options. All right? So you can, uh, text to speech, you can add that feature, or if you already did it, that's where you can change, uh, the voice or whatever the case may be. You can set the duration. How long does that text remain on screen? That's where like if, uh, at a certain sound effect or element or whatever, something pops up, uh, you would drag, you would drag the text to start there or to stop there.

Nick Clason (14:49):
Okay? And then the last thing thing is to edit, to actually like rewrite or, you know, you had a typo to go in there and change that. All right, moving on down beyond the text, you have your sticker options. That's things like your mentions, hashtags, you can add polls, support nonprofit, add a location, ask a question, reply the date, the time, all kinds of things. If you're familiar with Instagram Stories editor, it's very similar to the sticker options that you see on Instagram Stories. I've actually never even seen that menu option until I went to prepare for this video and I was like, oh, I didn't know all this stuff was on here. Um, beneath that, you have effects, okay? And so across the top, once you click effects, you have your trending effects, then you got visual motion effects, transitions, and, uh, split options.

Nick Clason (15:31):
So you can kind of explore different effects, things to add to your video and what, whatever, and whatnot. Right there, beneath that, you have your filters. It's just gonna change the look, feel your video. Beneath that, you have studio, that's where you're actually editing, cutting your video, okay? So if you wanna do something to edit the video, click on the video. It's gonna give you a video bar and a sound bar. If, if you have, uh, like just the, the audio from the video that you recorded, they'll be together. If you have a audio, like a song, those are gonna be two kind of separate things, okay? So if you click on your, your top option, your video option, once you do that, a little menu option down beneath will, will pop up. So you have split, you can change the speed, you can adjust the volume, you can rotate it, and ultimately you can delete it.

Nick Clason (16:20):
Uh, split is a great way. If you have like one big, long thing, um, and you're trying to do a little cuts, you drag to the spot, you split it, and then you delete the rest of the video, then you may add in another video that, that same video, probably do another cut, split delete on the front, delete it on the backside. I hope that makes sense. Um, so then to the right of your video bar option, right? You can click full screen and then there's a plus button, and that's where you can then add that video. Like I was just talking about. If you select the audio, you got your video bar, your, your audio bar, if you select audio, you can add your audio option. Once it's added, you can either replace the sound, adjust the volume, or choose to delete it. You save at the top right and you cancel at the top left.

Nick Clason (17:05):
Moving back out to our editor, um, beneath that you have your captions option A recommend a caption for almost any talking head video on TikTok. That's how, uh, SEO and search is gonna find certain topics. Beneath that, you have your Noise reducer, then your audio effects, and then finally your privacy settings. So once you're done there at the bottom, you then have two options. Bottom of your, your screen on the left, you have the stories option. And then to the right of that, you'll have your next option. Next is where you go to kind of tap to get to your final step before you actually post it. Okay? And so, um, there is where you would type in your caption, different from your captions on screen, right? But your caption of your actual video, the one that kind of like floats up, and then the likes and stuff stuff, follow it.

Nick Clason (17:50):
Um, you would also include your hashtags there. And then to the right of your, uh, caption box is where you would select your cover. If you click on that, you can drag your finger to a certain part of the video. You can also add title and text on top of it. Um, the, the title and text, it should be noted that those don't show up when someone's swiping through and just finding your video, those are mostly seen when someone lands on your profile and you want them to know what the video is. Okay? So those, those could be helpful. Also, if you do have onscreen things different from your, your text option, your title, text options there, like I showed you, um, those will also show, um, if someone land on your profile, they'll just be in a different type of format than, than TikTok has to offer.

Nick Clason (18:36):
Um, if they're, uh, like I said, if they're scrolling past, so they won't display on that screen. Also, there you can tag people, you can add a location, you can add links, and here's what it's available on the links. You have books, minigame Alpha by Titan Breathwork, Buzzfeed Quizzes, Contra Profile, disco Loco, 3d, I R L List with Two Eyes, Quizlet, rotten Tomatoes, stat Muse, and Whisk. Um, never use any of those. So you can check those out. You can then choose, um, who can watch the video, allow comments, allow to, uh, allow, allow Stitch, allow high quality, upload more options, save to device. If you click on the more options, save to device, which I just finally turned off by the way, I couldn't figure out where to get that. That's where you get that. You can select your caption language, um, branded content and ads, and then there's an automatically shared to IG or text ig, ig stories, Snapchat.

Nick Clason (19:30):
And then the last thing is, um, you can either put it in drafts or you can post it. Last thing I'd recommend, if you are uploading this to other places, um, once you upload it, click uh, go back into your profile, click on the three ellipses option, um, click copy link, and then go to your browser on your phone or on your computer, and type in to Google save TikTok without video watermark or save TikTok video without watermark. If you copy and paste that link into there, it will then download you an option from TikTok without the TikTok watermark all over it. Then you can take that same video and you can post it to Instagram, Facebook, YouTube shorts. Um, one thing I've noticed personally, just very anecdotally, is that every time I would post a TikTok, um, and then Instagram with the watermark, Instagram would give me almost no views once I started removing that. Um, we, we've had videos go, you know, 20,000, 30,000, 40,000 views because we removed the watermark. Um, I think that the two are kind of competing against each other. Instagram wants to use them, TikTok wants you to use them, so just confuse them and think that they're both being used even though you, you are using both of them. And, uh, they, they just aren't seeing that. Um, and that's just algorithm and kind of AI

Nick Clason (20:46):
Stuff. All right, so, hey, thank you so much for hanging out and getting that guide if, uh, or getting this guide on how to, how to post TikTok, um, on your account. Listen, if you found this helpful, like subscribe, share, rate, review, all the things, check us out, hybridministry.xyz and check out the description for, um, not only the, the social media checklist, but also the checklist on this, um, the written form of this video on how to post a TikTok, download that, put it on your desk, put it above your, your computer so that when you're posting, you have it as a reference. And until next time, we'll talk to you later.

Episode 025: The Ultimate 2023 Social Media Calendar, Strategy and Posting Guidelines

Nick Clason — Thu, 05 Jan 2023 04:00:00 -0600

SUMMARY
In this episode, Nick sits down and fleshes out a weekly social media posting calendar. How often do you post? What types of content and ideas can you post? How frequently? Where and what? This is your FREE 2023 posting guide!

To gain access to the FREE "Have I already RUINED my TikTok account? - A guide to posting TikToks from start to finish" next week, subscribe to Nick's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9pjecCnd8FVFCenWharf2g
ShowNotes and Transcripts available at http://www.hybridministry.xyz
Or come hangout on TikTok at: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick

SHOWNOTES
Previous Episodes Mentioned:
TIKTOK POSTING IDEAS
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/023
ROB'S INTERVIEW
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/024

TIMECODES
00:00-01:22 Intro
01:22-02:48 YouTube and Podcast Strategy
02:48-11:33 TikTok, Reels and Shorts Strategy
11:33-15:10 Instagram Feed and Facebook Page Strategy
15:10-16:30 Instagram and Facebook Stories Strategy
16:30-17:42 Facebook Groups Strategy
17:42-18:49 Outro

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:01):
Hey, what is up everybody? Welcome to another episode of the Hybrid Ministry podcast. I am your host, as always, Nick Clason. Excited to be with you. And in today's episode, I wanted to give you your custom 2023 social media framework for your ministry, whatever style ministry you lead. Uh, I am pulling this directly from, um, the ministry that I am a part of. And just so you know, I am a youth pastor, and so it may be a little bit different for you, and you may make a few tweaks based on the area of ministry that you lead or if you're navigating an entire church, uh, social media. But honestly, like, I think, um, some of the things I might say, if you're leading your entire church student minister or your entire church social media, you might think that's a little bit too silly. Can't be whatever.

Nick Clason (00:56):
Um, I'll just encourage you, like, I think people jump on social media to be entertained. And so, um, even if it feels a little bit, uh, student ministry esque, like, I think people are gonna find it fun, especially if you're incorporating your pastor or other, like church people, parishioners members, like, uh, it can be fun. So, uh, hang with me, but here's my recommended 2023 social media strategy for you. All right, so the first thing I would recommend is post all of your sermon content to YouTube. If you don't have a YouTube channel, create one. Um, if you live stream already, just use that. If you're not live streaming, um, and you, and, or you don't wanna pay for the, uh, the equipment that it takes, then I would recommend pre-filing your talks, your message content. You can shave the content down from, you know, typically a sermon's 25 to 45 minutes on the longer end, maybe even longer in some of your cases, if you can shave your message down to somewhere between 12 and 17 minutes, that's the sweet spot for YouTube's videos.

Nick Clason (02:03):
It also lets you have whoever your primary communicator in is speak directly to camera, which is another thing that YouTube is gonna prioritize and promote, um, and make more. You know, uh, he help you index better, uh, in your, uh, in your YouTube search. Um, and so then if you pre film all of your stuff, you can post that to YouTube, um, as well as it gives you the option to rip off just the audio and save your mp3, uh, out as a podcast, which, um, I would a hundred percent recommend your church starting an audio sermon podcast. And that can come from your custom YouTube channel or, uh, uh, shorter form video content, right? For, uh, like the pre-filed thing, all right? Once you have the bedrock of your weekly messages on some sort of rhythm, uh, then from there you're going to be looking at your TikTok, Instagram, Facebook reels, and YouTube shorts strategy.

Nick Clason (03:05):
Here's the thing that's unique. In the past, uh, social media would ding you if you posted something, um, for Instagram on Facebook because they're built differently. Or if you posted something for Twitter on, uh, TikTok, right? Like, they're not, they're not the same social media platforms. However, we now live in a world where every single platform is trying to catch up and keep up with TikTok. And so here, soon I'm going to be releasing a video and an ebook. You can head to the show notes, or you can go to, uh, my YouTube channel, my TikTok, um, or hybrid ministry.xyz to grab a copy of that. I believe that's going to be launching a week from today. When this episode drops, it is your custom how to build a TikTok from scratch 2023 guide. So if you've never started on TikTok yet, uh, create an account, and then this will help you walk step by step through filming, editing, posting all on your phone, uh, so that you can make it, um, you can make it happen from there.

Nick Clason (04:06):
But everything in 2023 is going to be all in on short form video content. Facebook is, Instagram is YouTube, shorts is back, and so is TikTok. So in all of these platforms, you get the unique privilege to be able to record vertical video, short form video content, and post it in, in four places all at the same time. And so you really have a unique opportunity as a content creator, as a church social media manager that you've maybe never had before in the past. Now leading into 2023, it's all about short form videos. So go all in on it. And here's the thing, if you are pre-filing or live streaming your videos, it only gives you a base of content. You can go there and you can start from there to start pulling out sermon nuggets and content that you can post out to these short form video algorithms.

Nick Clason (05:00):
So here is what your, uh, posting strategy is gonna be. I'm going to recommend that you post five, uh, or I'm sorry, three times a day, five days a week. All right? So pick two days to be your quote unquote weekend. Um, I make my weekend Friday and Saturday. And church, I, I typically am off Fridays and Saturdays. So I post three times on Sundays, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Okay, pick whatever that is that the, someone out there like Gary Veer or something might tell you that that's a bad, uh, strategy. You should be posting every single day. And if you want to and have the margin bandwidth to do it, do it, but honestly, don't like take your days off, right? Like, that's that I, my boss challenged me. He's like, stop working on Fridays, bro. And I was like, you know what? You're right.

Nick Clason (05:42):
I'm not gonna do that. So I'm not gonna worry about it. Sometimes I post if I'm on TikTok and having fun just myself, um, to my ministry page, but more often than not, I'm not, all right. So, um, you're gonna be posting three times a day, five days a week. You figure out what your, your week is as a social media church ministry manager. Um, but you're gonna be posting, uh, Monday or whatever your day is, right? In the morning, afternoon, evening, morning, afternoon, evening. And the way that I notify myself is I just put it in Google Calendar. I'm sure there's a social media app up there, base camp, or some like project management software that can work. The only thing that really like alerts me to something that I'm paying attention to, i e my phone, um, is a Google Calendar, uh, invite.

Nick Clason (06:23):
So I just, I set that in there, it notifies me, and boom, off I go. So, um, you're gonna be shooting for 15 pieces of short form video content. If you're pre-filing, or if you've been live streaming, I want you to get three sermon clips, two of your pastor or whoever talking a short 32nd to one minute clip, go into whatever video software you have and shave it down. So it's 16 by nine. And, uh, find a good application piece of content. One way I do that is I like to, I like to go towards the end, um, and go more towards the application side of things that find better, um, more maybe applicable pieces of of sermon content to, to pull out there. Another option you can do is you can take like a stock video, um, with like a mountain landscape or something like that, and then some nice music behind it, and then put the quote, a quote from your pastor, uh, on there.

Nick Clason (07:13):
Uh, and you, I'm sure you've seen this before, but like, uh, tweet screenshots, they perform really well for whatever reason. Um, then I'm also gonna have you do a ministry recap. So if you're a youth group, for example, uh, get some short videos on Wednesday night, throw it in a TikTok, do an auto cut, and create a recap of whatever the night is. I post that every single Wednesday night. If you meet on Sunday nights, do that, uh, if you're a children's pastor or whatever, like do that on Sunday afternoons, okay? Whatever, whatever works in the rhythm of your thing. If you're overall church, uh, social media manager gets some clips from Sunday morning and post that Sunday afternoon or Sunday evening, um, as just a recap of great week today, loves hanging out, love seeing all the people, all the smiling faces, all that type of stuff.

Nick Clason (07:55):
Do three games. Um, couple episodes ago we dropped nine ideas for TikTok, short form video content that is, uh, there was all kinds of different things in there. Also, my most recent interview with Rob Shepherd, I'll drop both of those links in the show notes so that you can find those. But those are just full of ideas. You can follow him, uh, to get some great ideas of things that you can do. But three games, challenges, competitions, things that you're asking your audience. Who do you think, what do you think? How's this gonna end? Right? Like, give them a chance to interact with your algorithm, with your content, have them start commenting in on those videos and stuff like that. Um, I want you to do a one blind ranking a week. I'm sure if you've ever been on TikTok, you've seen those things where they'll put a filter on your forehead and it'll just filter through. Um, they have, I, I literally, I went into TikTok just a minute ago in the search, and I, I searched blind ranking. And so in that, you can find like restaurant blind rankings, movie blind rankings, shoe blind rank, like all kinds of different, like brands

Nick Clason (08:54):
Of things. And what you do is you just do one through five, um, on your screen, and as they come through, you try and rank where it's gonna be, not knowing what's gonna come next. That's where the fun kind of falls into it, right? So like, if you're doing fast food, you start with subway, where are you gonna put it? One through five mm, 3, 4, 2. You don't wanna give it to one. There's gotta be something better, right? Like that's kind of the whole thing. And then people can just laugh and have a fun time watching you interacting with it and whatever the case may be. Um, so do one blind ranking a week. Do two DeVos, two DeVos that are either attached to the message, but not exactly like clips from the message. So this is your pastor sitting down and talking directly to the camera, expounding upon it, or do two standalone devotional contents.

Nick Clason (09:36):
Find something about prayer. Find something about idols in your heart. Find something about rest and boundaries, and just do two, uh, DeVos and make 'em like a mini-series. That part one, part two. Um, I want you to do two spiritual practice videos. You can do like a, Hey, read scripture with me. You can do a guided prayer, you can do a meditation thing. Uh, you can do a verse memory type of challenge and all of that. Just find creative ways to do that into the camera. Um, that right there, if you add all those up. So three sermon clips, a ministry recap video, three different games, one blind ranking, two DeVos, two spiritual practice. That, that's 12 right there. You're looking for 15 total pieces of content. What that leaves you with is three trends, trending audio, trending dances, things like that. Um, and attach those to just funny things.

Nick Clason (10:22):
Invites come to church, right? Um, you can do p o v point of view type videos, um, or you can do, uh, those can also be things that you're going to be promoting towards future events. And in student ministry world, uh, d nows winter weekends, camps, like those types of things. I'm, I'm hitting stuff on camp, basically all summer long or leading up into it, right about like missing out on camp or point of view. Middle school boys cabinet smells like poop in here. Like, uh, all, you know, meeting someone in a small group for the first time, and there's, I don't know if you've ever heard that audio, but it's like, I do cuss a little. Oh yeah, what's your favorite word? Mm, probably crap. Or now there's a, a Christmas one, right? It's like probably cotton head and any moins, right? And so you could like, play around with something funny like that, like POV joining a new small group.

Nick Clason (11:07):
And if you're a church, uh, a church-wide social media manager in your fall launch, big push into getting people into small groups or connect groups or Sunday school classes, whatever the case may be. Just use something like that as a silly thing. You can be the primary person on camera. You can get your pastor, you can get some volunteers, you can get students, you can get teenagers. They can help especially help you find some of those trends. Uh, also, so then that's all of your short form video content. That's TikTok, Facebook, Instagram reels, YouTube shorts. All right? So then beyond that, what are you gonna do on your Instagram feed? Okay? So on your Instagram feed and your Facebook page, if you're a church-wide social media manager, um, if you are a youth pastor, uh, Facebook page I would say is optional. If you're, uh, running it for a whole whole church, you probably want to do it and just let it be duplicate of what's going on on your Instagram.

Nick Clason (11:57):
Um, Mondays, do a meme Monday, curate memes all throughout the week. Save them in a Google Drive or share Dropbox folder. Put a bunch of people on it. Like, Hey, you, when you're on social media and you find funny things, post a meme, um, screenshot it and drop it in here for me. You can have a cover thing that just says me Monday, or you can just post 10, um, in a carousel post. And they're just a funny way to engage and get people laughing and all kinds of fun stuff. Tuesday, post a message recap clip from whatever your most recent thing is. If you preach last Wednesday, post on Tuesday, preach on Sunday, all right? Or you can maybe flip flop. What I'm gonna suggest for Thursday, if you're a Wednesday, uh, youth, youth ministry, um, but post your, uh, uh, your reel, um, to your profile grid, okay?

Nick Clason (12:42):
When you're posting reels, I recommend not posting everything to your profile grid. You don't wanna flood it too much, and I'm gonna tell you why here in just a minute. But for this one, I do want you to post it to your profile grid. So crop it ice, maybe get another photo of your pastor preaching as your, uh, cover. So people look on your profile. It looks like a, a photo, but then they click it and it's actually a video. Put captions into it. Um, follow my, my ebook that I'm gonna drop next week, um, and go, you know, go make that happen Wednesday. Um, if you're a youth ministry, I would do a recap video right there of your night. If not, um, if you're a church, maybe make that, uh, your Sunday post. Um, and then reserve, you know, some of the other things that I'm doing, uh, here later, like you could do, um, like a worship Wednesday or something like that on an Instagram reel, uh, Thursday, that was, that's where I would put a spiritual practice post again.

Nick Clason (13:32):
So this is a Rio. So all the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, all reels. Okay? So the rest of the reels that you're posting those days, they're not posted to your profile grid, but your message recap, your Wednesday night recap, and now your spiritual practice post all those select on, which I think Instagram, when you're posting it in the post feature, um, it automatically selects post profile grid. So you're gonna have to select those off as you do those. Um, so go ahead, drop that in on Thursday, spiritual practice, read scripture with me, guided prayer, meditation, scripture, memory accountability, journaling, some type of thing there. Um, just challenging your people. Hey, pause for a minute, take 60 seconds, meditate on this first. The last thing I would do there, um, is on Saturday or Sunday morning, do some sort of, uh, invitation post invite to church. Like, Hey, I'm saving a seat for you.

Nick Clason (14:21):
Or tag someone who you want to come to church with you, or Sunday is the best day of the week, or something like that. Some sort of reminder like, Hey, we got a big event coming. It's church we did every week, right? But we got a thing coming up. Wanna see you wanna see you. So all that can be done on your Instagram feed and your Facebook feed. Um, and if you'll notice, most of your real content is going to help supply your feed stuff as well. Okay? So, uh, you're making 15 pieces of content back on the, the TikTok, Instagram real shorts and stuff like that. You're like, I don't know if I can keep up with it. You're kind of, you're probably dropping a lot of the static image stuff that you've been doing and you've been posting. And if you already have a framework for that, like a photographer or a graphics person or whatever, making those things, keep some of those going and filter those in and just pull them back a little bit more and then push forward more of the short form video type content.

Nick Clason (15:12):
Finally, um, on your stories in Instagram, I would, uh, I would say post reels, right? So you post reels and then go to your reel and click the share button. Share the story. So for example, if you're doing like a competition, like, um, whip cream or sour cream, who got the sour cream? Post that, and then just do a poll sticker on top of it, who do you think got it? Was it this person, this person, or this person? That's a way to use story framework while also letting the real content supplement what's going on in the stories. And it's going to keep, um, your story stuff fresh, but you're, again, you're not creating more or additional content, right? Another thing I do, me, Monday I post it and I do a slider and I say, which one was your favorite? 1, 2, 3, professors command nine, 10.

Nick Clason (15:55):
And they can slide it there to say, which of the memes is your favorite? If they're a story, first person, they're gonna find your thing on stories. But then like that one, right? It's gonna say, Hey, which was your favorite? And it's gonna cause them, if they're gonna want to interact with it, they have to click on the post to go see, swipe on the carousel, go back into your story and then slide. It's a lot of interaction with your account that's gonna index you higher in your story ranking for people who are, uh, looking for your stuff or see your stuff, if they're interacting fully, all of that's gonna be beneficial for their algorithm as they're trying to find, or as they're seeing you, as you post more and more stuff. Finally, Facebook groups, what do you do with those? Um, I would recommend sending a churchwide email or a ministry wide email.

Nick Clason (16:38):
If you're like a youth pastor, children's pastor, one time a week, whatever day you're sending that, I would post that exact same email into the group with some sort of photo to go along with it. Um, like if it's for camp registration, post a graphic of camp or a photo of students at camp or whatever, um, on Wednesday, I would share that recap reel, um, or some sort of recap reel from your Facebook reel account, share it into the group. Um, and then finally on Friday, I would do some sort of like fun Friday question. Just like, Hey, post a picture of, you know, we just got a Christmas season post a picture of a Christmas tree. Hey, Thanksgiving, hammer, Turkey. Hey, new Year's. What's your New Year's resolution? Okay, just some sort of fun question. One time a week. So you just need to queue up four of those.

Nick Clason (17:21):
And really, you just need to copy and paste a question. Um, you can put it into the Facebook thing that like builds the kind of like graphic looking picture post thing. Um, and post that in there. Um, do all that type of stuff. And, uh, then let, let the people supply the rest of the content in a Facebook group. You're just keeping some stuff kind of active, minuscule announcements, types of things. Hey guys, that's it for today. That is your 2023, uh, social media posting framework. I hope you find that helpful. Take that copy and paste it, implement it into your church social media framework and strategy. If you hear people talking, it's cuz it's Christmas Day. I'm recording this, uh, in, in my spare bedroom. Um, and so there's people on FaceTime calls and stuff out there. So thanks for muddling through that. Appreciate you guys and we will talk to you, uh, again next time.

Nick Clason (18:08):
Oh, hey, don't forget if you found this helpful, share it like it, rate it, be super helpful for us, and head to hybrid ministry.xyz. We're gonna be posting that ebook next week. Get on the list for that. Uh, subscribe to my YouTube channel, like me on, on TikTok so that you'll see that one it drops. Um, and just so you know, this message or this podcast is gonna be, uh, transcribed, uh, a hundred percent free for you hybridministry.xyz. I'll go to the episodes tab and you'll get the free, uh, complete transcript. Um, hope that that is helpful and beneficial for you. Blessings on your ministry, and we will talk to you again next time. Happy posting here in the new year.

Episode 023: 9 TikTok and Instagram Reels Videos to use at your church this week!

Nick Clason — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 04:00:00 -0600

SUMMARY
In this episode, Nick sits down and gives 9 different short from video content ideas for TikTok, Instagram Reels, Facebook Reels and YouTube shorts. These are a pairing for both fun and serious. A great way to engage with your audience during the week in a hybrid setting!

Come hang out at http://hybridministry.xyz
Or follow me on TikTok at https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Or on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9pjecCnd8FVFCenWharf2g

Grab the FREE Social Media Checklist: https://merry-swamp-3547.fireside.fm/articles/free-social-media-checklist

TIMECODES
00:00-01:59 - Intro
01:59-02:46 - 1) Trends and Dances
02:46-03:52 - 2) Guess Who
03:52-05:00 - 3) Blind Rankings
05:00-06:22 - 4) Competitions
06:22-06:56 - 5) Recap Video of Events
06:56-07:52 - 6) Devotionals
07:52-08:34 - 7) Sermon Clips
08:34-09:46 - 8) Read the Bible with Me
09:46-10:17 - 9) Practice Prayer
10:17-11:07 - Outro

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:02):
What is up everybody? Welcome to another episode of the Hybrid Ministry podcast. So excited to be here with you. My name is Nick Clason, and I am of course your host. Glad to have you today. You know, I wanted to talk a little bit about, um, a little bit different of an episode today. I wanted to look at an episode from the American TV show, the Office. Now obviously, like many, many of us are very familiar with this television show, right? Um, and you know, it's actually really funny. I have a coworker who's younger, she's in her twenties, and she didn't even know that the show ever even aired on like Network tv. She thought it was always a streaming show. So anyway, so I'm, I'm doing a little re-watch of this show, and I mean, here's the thing, like truth be told, I'm kind of like always doing a re-watch of this show.

Nick Clason (00:53):
I'm always, it's always at some level or some layer available to me. But the episode in particular that I wanted to focus on was from season four, episode two. It's called Dunder Mifflin Infinity. And if you're not familiar with the show, let me just bring you up to speed a little bit on it. So, Ryan, new manager at Dunder Mifflin. Um, Michael is still the, uh, the regional manager, the guy that everyone's kind of like used to and, and no, and he's famous and whatever and whatnot. Ryan is now his boss. And so that lasts for about a season. But Ryan is this new kind of young, up and coming guy. And so Ryan's entire like focus and identity and purpose is, he wants to bring D Mifflin into the 21st century. He wants to digitize them. And so Ryan is sort of this all digital, this all kind of person, right?

Nick Clason (01:40):
Online is the future. This is how it needs to happen, this is how it goes. Eventually, Ryan ends up in jail for fraud. So it doesn't exactly end up well for him, but let's just take a look at this episode in a microcosm. Um, conversely, there's Michael, who's old school. Michael's all about relationships. Michael's all about customer service. That's always sort of been done. Mifflin's calling card in the office is they're able to, um, out customer service, the big box retail guys. So what they're doing constantly in all of their sales and all those things is they're saying like, Hey, we're better than Staples. We're better than Office Depot, and we're able to supply you guys with the best possible customer service. And so we have Michael, basically we have Michael versus Ryan, right? In this, in this episode. And as I was watching it, it made me, um, it made me really like interested in this juxtaposition that we find ourselves in the church, in digital versus in person.

Nick Clason (02:41):
All right? And so, um, basically to, to summarize, uh, the rest of the episode, Ryan's pushing everyone to be more digital, gives everybody blackberries. Like that's the whole thing. Michael is opposing it. Jan, his now, uh, girlfriend is telling him that, um, he can sue Ryan for being, um, ages istic, um, and pushing out all the old people. And so, um, in an attempt to win everybody back over, Michael takes gift baskets to 10 clients that they've lost and that have, uh, switched over to other companies. And in that, while he's doing that, right, people are like, Hey, um, thank you so much for this gift basket, but that website thing that you're talking about, that's actually quite interesting to me. So let me know when that's a, when that's up and running. I'll be interested in exploring coming back to your company. And so there's wins for them, um, but there still are wins in the kind of like customer service side of things.

Nick Clason (03:41):
And so if you're a fan of the show at all, uh, just real quick, Michael drives his car into a lake because he is following a GPS way too closely and way too literally. And, um, he comes back to the office soaking wet and he thinks that he's lost. And, but in the meantime, for some reason, Ryan doesn't have the kones to stand up to Michael and just put him in his place, which I always find odd and interesting, but it's just this kind of weird tension between the digital guy and the in-person guy. So let's explore digital real quick. So Ryan is the digital guy where online is the future. And, and it's where everyone's going. I mean, that's kind of the entire thrust of the entire nine seasons, right? Is that this company is becoming so irrelevant with how they're doing things that like all the other guys are, are passing them.

Nick Clason (04:28):
Like even in the beginning of this episode, there's a funny kind of bit where Ryan is talking about the overhaul of the website, and Jim goes, well, I don't know what's wrong with our website. And he goes to it and it's got like this little, uh, stick figure animation that says under construction coming soon, and it gives like a year. And like at the time of the airing, like that year had already passed. And so therefore it just goes to show that they had not at all and in any way been investing in their website, which is such a wild thing to think about how recently this show aired. Like that was, that's an, that was a necessary thing for people back then, or at least I feel like it should have been. And maybe, um, I'm forgetting how much older that show is, right?

Nick Clason (05:08):
But anyway, so Ryan's coming in and he's ready to overhaul this whole thing. And I, I see elements of myself in Ryan, um, and how I viewed digital ministry, um, very recently, and even maybe still a little bit if I am being completely and totally honest, right? So, uh, in the ways that I, I see myself like Ryan, I'm pushing all my chips into the middle, uh, saying I'm all in on online because I look at all the stats. I see that generation Z millennials, uh, high percentage of people are living their lives on Facebook. Uh, gen Z spends five to eight hours of screen time a day. And so therefore I'm like, we need to show up where they are. And I still believe those things, by the way, right? But sometimes at the, at the downfall of what happens on, uh, in an in-person experience or an in-person ministry type of moment, um, I forget that like there are valuable things, um, that can happen in the in-person type of moment.

Nick Clason (06:09):
And also, uh, the way I am, I'm, I, I often play devil's advocate. And so I feel like in uh, organizations, I kind of come in and I end up sort of taking the role of the change agent. And so if everything is, uh, a pendulum swing to, um, all the in-person style of ministry, I'm trying to push them to think about things another way. Not that I don't agree with these things, but just that like this church or this organization that I'm working in, they don't need more of that, right? They need more of this. And so my attitude and my posture becomes one of kind of all in and continually pushing in that way. So, uh, definitely in the last church I worked in, like there was this big argument on the heels of Covid. Covid was over. People were done with it.

Nick Clason (06:52):
They were ready to either come back or be in person or give up online, whatever. And I thought we were doing some valuable things online. And so therefore, I was making an attempt to continue to remain online. And so all I talked about all the things, I said, all my arguments were online, online, online. And I wonder if people that I worked with, like, do you, do you even care about some of this other in-person stuff? And the answer of course is, yes, I did. Right? But like, because of my personality and my devil's advocate this, I needed to keep pushing about it that way.

Nick Clason (07:26):
So let's look at Michael. Michael, anti-d digital anti online wants to be all about in-person, right? He's saying customer service still matters. He brings the gift baskets to all of his customers. I would say that I resonate with Michael in this episode very much like when I, uh, was back in Bible college, right? Um, in a lot of ways when I'm in college, I didn't have the ability to kind of nuance or think about things or see things in other ways. And so like this, like this is the way that it has to be. This is the way it's supposed to be very like dogmatic, right? Like I would say you can't do church without being together. Um, and I've even had conversations with, uh, former students of mine who've said those types of things, like, well, preaching has to be in person. And maybe one day I'll do a deep dive.

Nick Clason (08:14):
Um, first of all, I need to do some study into the theology of preaching in the theology of proclaiming God's word, right? But like, I need to look into that and say like, can preaching and can the exposition or delivering of God's word be done in a different way than behind a pulpit? And I guess I would have to say, I think it has to be, because biblically speaking, most pastors, exhorters teachers, overseers, shepherds, were not behind a pulpit. Like that's, that's a much more recent phenomenon. And so to say that that's the only way it can be can't actually be true. Cuz if you look at the Bible, that's not the way it was back then. And if we wanna wanna be true to what the Bible has to say and what the word of God has to say, then I don't know that we can make that, that, you know, conclusion.

Nick Clason (09:03):
Exactly. And so we see Michael very much in that like, this is how it has to be unwilling to kind of move and change and flex and adopt and become different, right? Like with the times and like, what's going on? All right, so that was Ryan. That was Michael. Well, now let's look at a hybrid approach to this, right? Because as I was watching this, obviously it's for comedy and obviously, right, it's for show, but Ryan and Michael, in my personal opinion were both right, but both of them were so consumed with winning, right? That like, it became, uh, comical about who is gonna win this guy or that guy, right? So, so Michael didn't want to go online at all. And I think that's dumb. Like there is going to be value in that, especially when you're watching the episode and some of the customers that he's seeing are like, uh, yeah, let me know when your website's back.

Nick Clason (09:57):
I think that they could do both, right? They could, they could have good customer service and have a good online sort of port, uh, portal, right? And make those things marry together. I think that, um, they could really serve their customers well cuz they are still small. And so if they were able to come up with a relevant, useful, good, uh, website, then could they bring that to their customers? And I think the answer to that is yes. And I wish that they would've, uh, seen that and that Michael and Ryan would've come together and willing and were willing more to work in like, sort of like a hybrid sort of way. I think. Um, Ryan wanted to go strictly online and was not concerned about losing the touch of, uh, their personal, uh, customer service, their personal touchability that Dunder Mifflin had. And I think that that's a big loss for him.

Nick Clason (10:47):
I think he's missing out on a pretty important moment. Why? Because, uh, Ryan, uh, didn't know what d mifflin's as up the sleeve was. The asep the sleeve was their customer service. So the people that were choosing to be with them did not want to be with them because of a nice new flashy website. Of course, he's thinking about reaching people, but how do you retain the people that are already there, um, as customers of your paper company? Okay? So I think both of them play a role. I think they mesh together really well. And at that intersection is where we find hybrid ministry. So let's explore in church, um, the pairing of the Ryan and the Michael, and where can some live things that we have a church have adopted or have become customary or we're just so used to, where can some of those live things be made more digital?

Nick Clason (11:39):
Okay, so number one, we have sermons. Let's talk about sermons again. I think one day I'd love to do a deep dive, maybe that'll be a future episode here of, um, sermons and exposition of the Bible and teaching and proclaiming of, of God's word. Um, where can some of those things be made into a digital format? Well, first and foremost, if you are preaching a sermon every single week, you can record that audio and immediately turn that into podcast. I read something that, um, the majority of adults, uh, listened to eight hours of podcasts a week. And so, um, I know like last week, for example, let me give you an example of my own life. I went to like a membership class at my church and I've told you guys, I'm new at my church. Um, and we weren't able to go to service or we were, but we kind of chose not to.

Nick Clason (12:28):
So hopefully anyone who like, um, I work for, sorry about that. Um, and guess what I did? I, I went and I was like, I'm gonna listen to this podcast, uh, later throughout the week. And so that is a really easy way for, for people in your church who miss. And it might even be, uh, easy way for people, um, who are unconnected to your church to come to, uh, at least an awareness of your church at a very like elementary level. And all you need to do is some simple plugin things into your audio board, capture your pastor's audio, some pretty basic mixing on the back end. You maybe don't even need to do a ton, as long as it doesn't sound horrendous. And then just upload that thing to an iTunes, um, apple podcast, Spotify podcast capture so that people can discover it.

Nick Clason (13:15):
Another layer to that of course could be to create like YouTube sermons. So to record your, um, sermon and your audio and pair those together. Of course, if you listen to my last episode, um, my 2023 and Beyond YouTube strategy for churches, I highly, highly recommend pre-filing your content, pairing down your sermons. Cuz most sermons or lectures are anywhere from 25 to 45 minutes long. And that's a little bit too long for the YouTube algorithm. You want to try and slide somewhere between that 12 and 18 minute range for videos on YouTube. So of course you could do that as well. Again, all you're doing is taking your content from your sermon and you're overlaying it and creating an opportunity for it to be digital, right? So like then another option is you have your sermons. So break those up into small short TikTok clips.

Nick Clason (14:07):
Like if you're not good at video editing, an option that you can do is you can take, uh, just a camera like I'm doing and talk directly into it and create 30 to 62nd clips from your message. Like you already have the content. So even if you can't get a clip from the actual pastor preaching a sermon, you can still use the same topic or the same content or the same passage and rip that post that and do 3, 4, 5 different little like sermon clips throughout the week. You can use that in short form video and everything, every single platform, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok are all about the short form video content. So use those things to your advantage. So with your sermons, you got got audio podcasts, you got YouTube videos, and you also have short form video. TikTok style clips. Another option for a thing that, um, is done live, but can be made.

Nick Clason (15:03):
Um, digital is a group finder. Most churches are all about community, are about helping people get connected, find their place, find their place to serve, uh, find, have something on your website that operates as a connection portal, uh, connect group, a small group, a grow group, or whatever you call your small groups. Have people be able to go on there and browse and search, make it user friendly. Uh, a lot of church management softwares will have those things as an available option that you can use some sort of group finder type of thing or just build something on your website. But the reality is, is like in my personal life, if I can't get an appointment with a dentist or a doctor or whatever through creating an appointment online, I don't want to use them. So I'm probably not gonna call, I'm probably not gonna email.

Nick Clason (15:51):
I might email. Um, but if I can have a full service, create an appointment type of thing online, I'm gonna do that. And I think the same is true for churches, especially for finding community, for finding groups, for finding places to jump in, uh, and be able to serve. So create something that's full scale, full service and available for your people to use, uh, to find community. The last option is daily devotionals. We all know the importance of getting people in the word, but there's a recent stat out there that said 8% of Christ following Christians, uh, read the Bible only one time a week, 8%. So how can we as a church, help give our people the tools that they have? There are an unlimited amount of tools. Now think about before the printing press. What did they have to use? They had to go to church to get the Bible, but now they can access it on their phone.

Nick Clason (16:45):
Probably many of us have multiple Bibles on our shelves at home. So how can we help get people, um, using scripture throughout their week? So a couple of options are, uh, the U version Bible plan, uh, u version Bible app on people's phones. They have plans, you can read things together, you can also put sermon notes on there so that people can follow along. And then when they're done at the bottom, you can link out to a plan to read together or to encourage people to read through on their own u version. Done by Life Church is an absolutely incredible tool for churches and it's only getting better. So use that as something that you can help promote scripture and um, bible literacy with the people in your church and in your congregation. Another option, of course, like I said, is um, you can use devotional type content.

Nick Clason (17:28):
So this is different than sermon content, but devotional content or going deeper on the sermon or something like that. And you can do that in TikTok, real short form video. Uh, you can even do like a little mini-series, like how to read the Bible and do a three-part series and post it, uh, on your social media for the week. But what are different ways that you can use social media, short form video, TikTok and those types of things to create devotional type content. So like I said, I think that there's been this, this fight between digital Ryan Howard and in person Michael Scott in the Dunner Mifflin Affinity episode. And I just wish I could have got together and helped counsel them. Been like, this is how you can marry those two things. And I find that to be true in the church community and coming together and praying and crying on each other's shoulders and carrying one another's burdens.

Nick Clason (18:21):
That's so important. And it cannot be done digitally, but people also need to be discipled. People need to read Bible content. People need to hear the truth from God's word, and they're not always available to show up to your in-person event in a physical form. So what are ways that you can support people in your church to help them, uh, through the means, through the the phone that's sitting in their pocket to help coach them and and teach them what it's like to live a life? Um, that's not just digital, not just physical, but it's hybrid. Hey guys, once again, thanks for hanging out. Uh, we've, we have full transcripts for every single episode over hybridministry.xyz I'd love to encourage you to go check that out. It's a great place to find some stuff there. Also, um, on my personal TikTok at Clason Nick, c l a s o n n i c k, uh, posting little clips, um, from podcast episodes, um, current and past. So go check out on, hang out with us there. Love to connect with you in that way. Until next time, we'll talk to you all later.

Episode 022: Bridging the Generation Gap by using an episode of the Office.

Nick Clason — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 04:00:00 -0600

DESCRIPTION
In this episode, Nick dissects an Office episode that he recently was viewing and correlating that to how older and younger generations often approach the discussion around "In-Person" and "Digital" ministry. His proposal, was less "Either/or" and instead it was a "Both/And" approach. One that he likes to call "Hybrid"
What can the church take that is set to defacto "In-Person" only and create digital versions and digital access points for those same elements? Such as sermons, community and Bible reading.

Full transcripts and other resources available at: http://www.hybridministry.xyz
FREE Social media checklist at: https://merry-swamp-3547.fireside.fm/articles/free-social-media-checklist
Or come hang on TikTok at http://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick

TIMECODES
00:00-04:12 What we can learn from The Office
04:12-07:24 Digital - Ryan
07:24-09:16 In Person - Michael
09:16-11:21 How to make those two become Hybrid
11:21-14:57 Sermons
14:57-16:12 Helping People Find Community
16:12-17:53 Bible Reading
17:53-19:38 Outro

Nick Clason (18:21):
That's so important. And it cannot be done digitally, but people also need to be discipled. People need to read Bible content. People need to hear the truth from God's word, and they're not always available to show up to your in-person event in a physical form. So what are ways that you can support people in your church to help them, uh, through the means, through the the phone that's sitting in their pocket to help coach them and and teach them what it's like to live a life? Um, that's not just digital, not just physical, but it's hybrid. Hey guys, once again, thanks for hanging out. Uh, we've, we have full transcripts for every single episode over at hybridministry.xyz. I'd love to encourage you to go check that out. It's a great place to find some stuff there. Also, um, on my personal TikTok @ClasonNick, c-l-a-s-o-n-n-i-c-k, uh, posting little clips, um, from podcast episodes, um, current and past. So go check out on, hang out with us there. Love to connect with you in that way. Until next time, we'll talk to you all later.

Episode 020: Kerry Ray on the limitations of digital ministry, can we overcome it, and how do we help digital immigrants make an impact with digital natives

Nick Clason — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 04:00:00 -0600

SUMMARY
In this episode, Nick finishes up from part 1 of his conversation with Kerry Ray, director of editing and publishing at YM360. Kerry talks about the limitations of digital ministry and how to best navigate some of the new challenges of digital ministry. In addition Kerry shares some of the resources that are available through YM360 for youth pastors who are in the trenches doing ministry.
Follow along at http://www.twitter.com/hybridministry
Or any and all other resources at http://www.hybridministry.xyz
For resources from YM360 head to http://www.ym360.com

SHOWNOTES
YM360
YM360
http://www.ym360.com
MINISTRY TO PARENTS
https://ministrytoparents.com/
MY YOUTH MIN
https://myyouthmin.com/

TIMECODES
00:00-03:01 Intro
03:01-05:41 The Limitations of Digital Ministry and How to use what we learned from our time in COVID
05:41-11:10 How do we show up to a place teenagers are native to?
11:10-22:00 If you had a crystal ball, how does digital and hybrid ministry need to adjust as we go forward?
22:00-26:55 What resources are available to Youth Pastors?
26:55-27:53 Final encouragement from Kerry to ministry leaders
27:53-31:07 Outro

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:01):
What is up everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the Hybrid Ministry podcast. And hey, if you were here for episode, uh, 19, the most recent one that we dropped, it was a part one of an interview with my great friend, um, Kerry Ray, who was on staff at YM 360. He, after 30 years of work inside the local church, has decided to step into more of a role where he's, um, serving the youth pastor, um, and people who are in the trenches doing ministry. So not only does he come with a wealth of personal hands on, boots on the ground, kind of firsthand experience and knowledge of reaching teenagers, um, and seeingDigital Ministry, Contact Work, Relational Ministry, Discipleship, Student Ministry, Youth Ministry, META Church, Streaming Church, TikTok, Social Media life before digital was introduced. Uh, the way he puts it was, um, I'm a digital immigrant versus now doing ministry to people who are digital natives. And so, uh, we're gonna dive into part two of this interview, but I would recommend if you have not heard, go back to part one because he introduces this idea, um, that's not, you know, it's not from him alone, right?

Nick Clason (01:08):
But like, he introduces this idea of a thing called contact work. And contact work is basically the basic premise of going to where people are as opposed to hoping that they will always just come to us, right? If we build it, if it's so beautiful, if it's so shiny and amazing, they will come to us. So he introduces that idea. Um, and now we're gonna kind of explore is that idea of ministry possible, uh, to do digitally. And I would argue that him and I agree for the most part, but I think that, um, we have to sort of like nuance our way into it. Which honestly, it's an interesting dichotomy. And even in having the conversation, I think is how most people feel about digital ministry. I think at a knee jerk reaction, there's this, oh no, you can't do that digitally because discipleship and ministry is best done life on life.

Nick Clason (02:00):
And for the record, I agree with that. Like, I want people that I can physically touch, hug, like sit and eat a knee, have a cup of coffee. Like, here's a great example. Right now, my wife is gone. She's, uh, visiting her mom back home in Ohio. I'm in Texas. We have a relationship. We've video or FaceTimed four times this week, uh, or four times a day, I should say. Um, every day that she's been gone, we've texted late at night, like, we have a relationship, but good grief, like, I wanna give my wife a hug. You know what I mean? Like, there's, it's obviously better together. However, my cell phone is making it possible to remain in contact with my wife. And, and so I think like when you put it that way, you're like, well, yeah, of course. Like, so then how do we add some intentionality?

Nick Clason (02:47):
And we talk about safety, some parameters. What does it look like, um, to do ministry in this way? So I'm really excited for you to check out part two. Again, if you haven't checked out part one, go back and listen to it. Um, and without any further ado, here is part two of our conversation. I mean, honestly, the entire basis right of this podcast is, is what's called the Hybrid Ministry podcast. Because I think what we've learned, at least the way I felt, and I was a part Kerry of an attractional based church during C and so we put together, in my opinion, the best youth ministry online experience that existed. But no one cared because the contact work didn't exist. And so it's, but then what happened right, was this argument, this tug and this tug and pull, like in c everyone was forced to go all the way digital.

Nick Clason (03:37):
And so we all did, we all went all in to the best of our abilities. And then once the restrictions started to lift, the pendulum swung almost so hard because we all saw the effects of not being together and how valuable that is. And so it almost swung like, let's, let's throw the baby out with the bath water and all the good things that we learned from that time period from being fully digital and having, you know, our like proverbial hands tied behind our back. Like I, so I went to a place where a, um, I was a campus student pastor. I didn't speak. Um, and we didn't speak even pre covid. We had a video speaker, um, every week cuz there's universal across all campuses. And I can give you my opinions about that later. But that was, that was one hand tie behind my back.

Nick Clason (04:26):
The second hand tie behind my back was that I wasn't allowed to meet with students. So Ty, what I feel like both hands tie behind my back, all right, now you're the youth pastor here, go do youth ministry. And I was like, how? But that literally forced me right? To just rethink everything. And for literally six months to nine months, I had to navigate that world with both a handstand behind my back. And maybe that is what, and as I'm talking this out with you, maybe that's what has prompted my passion around this because I realized there's some good things you can do digitally, but it can't replace what's done physically. And so I think we gotta find that, that hybrid I think contact, I think, yeah, yeah. At its core happens in person. But think about, you know, when you started out in ministry, you couldn't grab a phone and text that student and be like, Hey, how'd that test go?

Nick Clason (05:20):
You didn't have that. You had to rely on a physical meetup, the football game, youth group, whatever, to make that happen. And so we, we can live in that digital space and bow borrow off the equity that we have from what happens in person. And so how do we enter into there effectively, like you said, cuz that's what Jesus did. He showed up. We can now show up in ways that teenagers are, to your point, native to how do we do that? What are the, what, what does that look like? I think we're all trying to figure that out.

Kerry Ray (05:53):
I, I think we are A couple of things. You, you said one I wanted to say, I don't know if your, your listeners understand or know about you that you walked into a church as a youth pastor, right? As this whole thing started, or that whole thing started. And so immediately you were trying, you, you, they didn't even know who you were. So you were trying to introduce yourself in a digital way, uh, to a group of people who didn't know you at all. Um, and that was interesting. Um, but the other thing you said, um, you mentioned about, um, we snapped back, the pendulum swung back. Mm-hmm. , can we be honest? I think the reason why the pendulum swung back so quickly is because we were so many people were terrible at one of it, at one side of it. Yeah. And it was failing so badly and they were terrible at it.

Kerry Ray (06:40):
Well, it's not familiar. The second well, yeah. And the second that that ended, they they run back to what, you know Yeah. As fast as you can, because I'm terrible at this. So we did, you threw the baby out with the bath water because you were like, one, I'm not good at it. Two, um, nobody likes to do stuff. They're not good. Right. So I'm not good at it. I don't wanna do it. I just wanna get as far away from it as possible. Let's go back to what we know when it was working. Let's go back to the stuff that I was confident in doing. Let's just run back to that. But if Covid showed us anything, it is, there needs to be, to your point, a hybrid. There needs to be both. And there are students that are out there that we can, you know, need to say hello to digitally.

Kerry Ray (07:22):
We do need to learn how to utilize that digital space better. Um, and this is another thing I was thinking as you were, as you were saying that is, you know, in the physical contact work mm-hmm. , there were boundaries and rules. Um, uh, especially in ministry. You know, you, you had, there's, there were certain things you could do and you, there were certain things you put boundaries on and said, Hey, contact work means this. It does not mean, you know, driving a female or even a male by yourself and go, oh yeah, that's contact work. No, that's, that's potential jail time. That's what that is. . Um, so you don't, you don't do those things. I think in digital. Um, you mentioned texting a student, Hey, how'd that test go? Mm-hmm. . Um, I know with our small group leaders, they were very nervous mm-hmm. and still are.

Kerry Ray (08:12):
Cause we don't know the boundaries. Um, do you text a student? Is that okay? Um, because what if their parent is not cool with, um, you know, a 35 year old texting a 14 year old mm-hmm. . Um, how was your day? Um, you know, that can, that can kinda be weird. Uh, so there are some boundaries there. Do you hang out? You know, I can go to a football, I can go to a middle school football game and I could be there as a student pastor and I can see my kids that I see, I can meet their friends. This, there again, young life does a great job of this. You know, I can be intentional about meeting people. I'm in a public space. There's other people around. Yep. That is very different than me logging into Call of Duty intentionally and playing in a chatroom of, you know, a bunch of 14 year old guys and girls that I don't know.

Nick Clason (09:06):
Yeah.

Kerry Ray (09:06):
That's, that's different. And maybe the digital immigrant in me has that trigger goes, this is weird. Yeah. Uh, maybe that's the digital immigrant in me versus the digital native, but there's some oddity there. And so we've gotta figure out not just a balance of how do we, how do we engage that way, but what are the boundaries? What are the best practices? What are the safety protocols that need to be in place in a digital format to where you're not the weirdo, you're not the weird old guy or the weird old girl hanging out, you know, in a chatroom or in a, in a digital space. Um, the internet has been great, but it's also shown us that it's highly dangerous and that it is full of predators. And not to say that the football, the middle school football game stands, that there's not predators out there as well sitting in those, in those bleachers.

Kerry Ray (10:02):
But it's, society sees it differently in a digital space. Um, because right now that is where a lot of the ugly stuff is happening. Um, so all that to say is we don't need to abandon it. We do need to be careful. Mm-hmm. , we do need to engage, but to do it with boundaries and guidelines in place. And we need to, if you're in the church world, you need to set your people up well because they don't know. And they're trying to do what you're, you're telling them, Hey, do contact work. Hey, engage, Hey, be a part of these, these students' lives. And they do. But you gotta give them the boundaries of the protocol so that they know and they have confidence in how to interact in that digital space. One, they're already digital native more than likely. And two, it's an awkward space that they're unfamiliar with. And three, they need to feel safe. Just like if you sent them into a football game and said, Hey, I want you to hit at least one football game. Here's what you do in that space. Here's what you don't do in that space. You need to do the same thing with them in a digital context.

Nick Clason (11:10):
Yeah. So, from the seat you're sitting in now, um, what, if anything, like do you see about how covid, digital, hybrid, any of that stuff, how is it influencing and impacting ministry leaders? Cause you're sitting in a unique seat where you are helping serve the type of person that you were for the last 30 years. So what are you noticing? What are you hearing? What are the pain points? What are people asking? What are people trying to figure out? What are things that you're seeing? And then what do you maybe envision or see as, uh, a future maybe, maybe in like a year, but also maybe in the next five, 10 years of ministry, student ministry and all that stuff?

Kerry Ray (11:55):
Yeah. What I'm seeing is I get to speak to youth pastors in multiple states, in multiple denominations. Um, people who have been doing it for 20 plus years, 10 years. I was at Arkansas this past weekend and a room of, you know, 25, 30 guys and girls, um, who do youth ministry. And, um, there were some that were full-time. There were some that were, you know, part-time. There were some that were bivocational. Um, there were some that had been doing this for 10 years, eight years, 20 years. And then a couple of the couple of them are like, yeah, this is month three. Yeah. Um, , you just go, woo. Um, but I think they're all struggling with the same thing, which is what we've been talking about this whole time, is how to balance, um, how to juggle the digital aspect versus the physical aspect and, and what is contact work and how to, how do I create things that people wanna be a part of that students wanna be a part of?

Kerry Ray (12:55):
How do I program? Um, you know, a lot of 'em are just trying to figure out, how do I do any of this? I'm just winging it. How do I get support and momentum and, um, those pieces without even the digital piece involved. Um, but yeah, that's what I'm seeing. I'm seeing people struggling. I'm seeing people trying to navigate this return from shut down to non shut and the, and the damage that has been done in the, in, in that. And I am seeing people try to figure out how to engage in a new way, a new group of people, um, being, you know, this, this group of, um, of Gen Z students who are still around, and then this incoming crop of generation alpha students who are currently, uh, sixth, seventh. And depending on the age, you've got a couple eighth graders that are young ones mm-hmm. .

Kerry Ray (13:48):
Um, but just trying to, how, how do I, how do I engage them? How do we, how do we, um, provide them with, with the things they need? And there again, I know this has nothing to do with digital, but what I'm really seeing the most, uh, in the youth ministry space is the audience has shifted so much in that culturally it's a different world. Um, there's a lot more questions. They're open to a lot more things. They, um, and, and pastors are trying to figure out, for example, you know, how do you teach in a ministry context? How do you teach a teenager about the word of God? Which is absolute truth when the generation doesn't believe in such a thing is absolute truth. Mm-hmm. , how do you do that? Um, how do you, you know, how do you, so many youth pastors are preaching about characters in the Bible or things that were happening scripturally.

Kerry Ray (14:45):
And they'll say, you know, well, well, Moses, so and so and so and so and so and so as if the people listening to them know who that is, is without stopping to say, let me tell you who this is, because they're, again, the nuns in os they were raised by a group of parents who didn't grow them up in, in scripture. So they don't know. And so our, our mistake is, or the mistakes I'm seeing, or pastors speaking in a, in a phrase like, say, like I said, well, Moses, you know Moses, they don't, yeah. They're like, yeah, the guy with the boat, they're like, no, that's Noah

Nick Clason (15:16):
,

Kerry Ray (15:17):
But we have to pause. We have to slow down and teach mm-hmm. . And I think we have to do that. I think technology, um, Instagram, social media, TikTok, I, I love, I love, and I hate what I'm seeing right now on TikTok. Um, and if you're not on TikTok, you need to at least look at it. Mm-hmm. . Um, if I can encourage, if a youth pastor's listening, if I can encourage you, I know it's, you know, it's the devil. I get it. But at least be familiar with it. Yeah. At least engage. And I know your church probably has a stance on it. And, and I'll warn you, there's things, you're gonna see some stuff on there. That algorithm is incredible. Um, you only need to pause for a second and it'll feed you more of that. Um,

Nick Clason (15:59):
So yeah, listen, here's the best TikTok hack, by the way. If you start it and they start feeding you stuff you don't want, hold your, hold the video down, click, not interested, do that two or three times and it's gone forever. Like I'm telling you, can, you can game that algorithm, uh, the way each can, the way you'll, you want,

Kerry Ray (16:17):
I'll see a better TikTok hack. Don't sign up for an account

Nick Clason (16:21):
or

Kerry Ray (16:22):
That, cause that way every time you, every time you log off the, turn the app off, you turn it back on, you get the most stuff. It's new every time. Um, but what, what I was gonna say about, about TikTok was some of the greatest things I'm seeing is, is student ministries, youth pastors, pastors utilizing that technology and teaching theology. Yeah. And, and, and, um, you know, there's a couple guys that do like the, you know, one minute sermon, um, and stuff that excellent content mm-hmm. this, the negative side of that is I'm seeing that the same thing with terrible theology mm-hmm. . Um, and I would say that group of people are using it very well. And our students, there, again, keep in mind your kids don't know the difference. They don't. Yeah. Um, and so they're watching things on TikTok that are, let's call it, you know, 30% true.

Kerry Ray (17:22):
Uh, and then it just kinda hangs, hangs hangs the right or hangs the left and, and goes crazy. Um, you know, I watched somebody the other day talking about, you know, Jesus, you know, Jesus's name wasn't Jesus. And I'm like, yeah. And I'm like, good. This is good. And then they kept going. They kept going. They like, so Jesus wasn't really God, he was just the, and I'm like, oh, no, no, because it started off, it started off really strong and going, yeah, this is good. This is good. Let's teach them these things. You know, there weren't really three wise men as far as we know. There were, there were wise men that showed up. Great. Great. So, you know what they were, they were really these things. They were Illuminati No, they were not Illuminati. You know, just, just crazy stuff. Um, where do I think it's going?

Kerry Ray (18:08):
I I definitely think, you know, the, the, those of us who are digital, uh, immigrants we're aging out. Um, more and more digital natives. Um, that's the way the world works, right. You know, more kids are being born more, more babies and children are being handed iPhones and iPads as pacifiers and are growing up with it. And that is a thing. And it can be good or it can be bad. And, and I guess my biggest takeaway would be, or challenge would be this, don't build a moat. There's no mo big enough. Whether you're talking to parents or whether you're trying to do your own ministry piece. Don't build a moat and try to protect everybody from technology. That's, it's foolish. You're not, that's, that's not a winnable battle. No. Um, I think what we need to focus on is redeeming that culture and redeeming technology and saying, how can I take what is, what is, how can I take who these students are and meet them where they are versus where we wish they were?

Kerry Ray (19:11):
Um, meet them where they are and redeem this technology and utilize it in a way for the glory of God and for, for the, for the right reasons. The right purposes. And try to try to really point to him using technology and use it to reach students. Use it to disciple students. Use it to, um, bring and share Jesus to students who may never, ever step foot in your church door, but they may be scrolling through TikTok and just happened to come across a video where you talk about this God man who loved you so much that he gave himself for you on your behalf, so that you could have eternal life. And it may, here's what I find interesting about students in this generational speech that we're in right now. There's no reason for a teenager to show up to the things you're doing.

Kerry Ray (20:05):
Mm-hmm. , there's just no reason for it. Yeah. But they still are. They're showing up to these things. And it's not because you got a great Instagram account. They're showing up to these things because they have an internal intrinsic curiosity about spiritual things that I believe that God has placed in them from creation to seek him out. Yeah. And they're showing up because that curiosity is itching and they're trying to figure out a way to scratch it. And they're just curious enough to still listen and use, use Instagram and TikTok all you want, but use it to scratch that curiosity in them that is God given. And let God be God and God do the things. We don't save people anyway. We never have, we haven't done it physically and we're not gonna do it digitally. Um, that's not, that's not for us, but utilize the, the tools that we have in front of us to continue to do the things that we are called to doop.

Kerry Ray (21:06):
Um, so yes, technology is out there. It is, it is doing its thing. Um, don't run from it. Don't build a mote to protect people from it, whether they're your own kids or not. Utilize it. Teach people how to use it. Teach people how to be safe with it. Set your volunteers up to utilize it. Well give them boundaries. Help them to, to do this thing well. Um, you know, show them how to do it and show your church how to do it. Show all the digital immigrants how to do it. Um, and lead, lead there. Lead from lead from the backseat. Um, especially if you're watching this, listen to this. Sorry. If you're listening to this as a, as a digital, uh, native, help people learn how to do this and to do it right. And to do it well. And not to be afraid of it. Cause I think the biggest thing is fear. Um, but yeah. Mean, sorry, man. I got, I've got on my soapbox for a minute, but

Nick Clason (21:58):
No, that was really good. I just, that was a great, that was a great place to land it. Why don't you, uh, you know, this has been a very youth ministry centric conversation, which admittedly so, and we, we let you guys know that at the beginning. Tell 'em about, uh, everything, you know, what, how can they engage with stuff over at YM 360. What are some of the resources that you, you all are producing to help, to help people in this space right now?

Kerry Ray (22:20):
Yeah. For, um, we, we create things. Our, our whole point is to make the things, to make youth ministry youth pastors wear a lot of hats. It's, it's hard. Um, I told those guys in girls in Arkansas, uh, this past weekend, youth ministry's harder than it's ever been. And it's not easy. Yeah. But we have more opportunity than we've ever had had because there are so many blank canvases out there who don't know. There's not a lot of, um, church baggage in teenagers right now, cuz they never went. Um, they read about it, they see it online, but, you know, they see people deconstructing and talking about it, but they don't have it themselves. A lot of them, because they, they haven't engaged yet. So, gosh, there's so much out there. Um, and why do sixty.com if you wanna check that out? Uh, there's tons of resources, uh, for you.

Kerry Ray (23:10):
There's, we post blog articles every single Monday. You can check out that kinda stuff. Um, I think that the, the best things that you can be a part of right now that we work on is we have two big platforms that we put out every month. New content for one of those is called ministry parents.com, ministry to parents.com. And it's not for parents, it's for you to help parents. So if you're in ministry, uh, and you're trying to help equip parents to be better parents in their home and to be, and to help those no e s's raise students in a way that points them to Jesus, um, we provide you with all the stuff. We do it all for you. Uh, we write all your emails, we, we curate all the content for you. It's really just point and click and paste and send.

Kerry Ray (24:00):
And we do it all for you. Uh, all of us know that we're supposed to partner with parents. None of us really know what that means. Um, and so and so we're trying to figure it out. And you know, what usually keeps us as student pastors from it is either we don't have kids of our own. And we go, well, I'm not legit. There's no way I'm gonna look at a parent and go, you know what you should do with that 14 year old? Cause they're gonna look at me and go, yeah, you tell me about that buddy. Or by the time we are legitimate, we realize that curating content for parents as far as what they need is a full-time job. Yep. And we can't do all that. And so that's what ministry parents does. Ministry parents.com. And then we just launched a brand new platform for training and development of youth pastors, um, that talks about all of this kind of stuff on the regular, every month we provide you with, gosh, 2026 plus pieces of content that's brand new every month that talks about everything from volunteers to parents, to technology, to other disruptors that are in that you're dealing with.

Kerry Ray (25:04):
Um, the whole point of it is to help you grow, lead and thrive in ministry. It is, it is all about developing you as a person. Um, you could check that out as well. It is my youth min.com, my youth min.com. It is, it is worth it. It's worth checking that out. Um, all those are subscription based stuff, but it's, it's not expensive. So whether you're full-time, part-time, uh, big church, small church, um, multi-site, multi staff, or you're flying solo, um, it is something that you can utilize. Um, and anytime, you know, my I am available, like I said, I tell people all the time, let me be that guy. Let me be the person that when you're struggling and you need somebody to talk to, when you are excited, when you're new and, and going, I don't know if this is the right way to do this or not, uh, I'm available.

Kerry Ray (25:54):
And, and more than happy to talk to you, I, I stepped out a student ministry proper to take this YM 360 role to give myself the ability to have these conversations like we're having the day, uh, with youth pastors, youth workers, uh, all over the place. So my email address is Kerry kr y com. Um, or you can catch me on Twitter and Instagram, uh, K R two, and then the letter you k um, I, I don't have TikTok. I just have a blank account so I can keep up with what's going on, but nobody wants to see me do Renegade or any of the dances anyway, so I know Charlie de that's, it's true, it's true. I should be on Dancing With the Stars, but I'm a, I'm no TikTok dancer day. So Yeah, day one day it's my aspiration. . Uh, yeah. So please, please hit me up and lemme hear from you. Any questions you ever have, anything you ever need, or if you just need to be encouraged and say don't, because here's, here's the deal, Nick, I just want people to know that there's less people joining into the student ministry rights than there used to be. Hmm. And, uh, we need more people than ever before. And so, yeah.

Kerry Ray (27:10):
You know, um, gosh, I'm going blank on that. Josh ship is the guy who said, you know, every student needs one caring adult. Yeah. Every student is one caring adult away from being a success. Um, and so, man, we need so many caring adults out there who are willing to see students, to love students where they are versus where they wish they were. That's good. And, and just to jump in and say, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm willing to let somebody show me the ropes. So

Nick Clason (27:43):
This stuff, man. Hey, I appreciate it. Thanks for your, uh, absolutely your time today from, uh, Birmingham Hotel Room. It's been great.

Kerry Ray (27:51):
. Thank you very much, man. Thanks for having me.

Nick Clason (27:55):
Wow. Well, man, I hope that you guys found that interesting and fascinating. Uh, hey, uh, in the show notes, wherever you get podcasts, you should be able to, uh, see the links to all the things that Kerry was talking about and all the resources that are available. If you are not a youth pastor, thank you for sitting through just a couple of old timey youth pastors chatting up, doing ministry, talking about ministry. But if you know someone who is in, in particular, man, I would really encourage you to share with him the ministry to parent and the, um, my Youth men, um, platform. Share those links with them. It's something that can be really, really helpful. Uh, we talked about this a little bit, um, off off Mike, Kerry and I, well, once we hung up. But my youth min, honestly, guys, it is conference level training.

Nick Clason (28:42):
And so if you're a youth pastor and you're in a small church without a giant budget, like it's behind a paywall, however, it is far cheaper than if you got a plane, got a hotel, um, and paid for a conference ticket somewhere across country or whatever, and you have access to it. Like, I don't know if you heard, he's like 20 something pieces of new content every single month. So there is conference level training very available at your fingertips, very accessible. Um, and so that's a budget saver, you know, and so I think leaders who wanna be learning, um, are growing super helpful. So check that out for sure. I am a, I'm a contributor to it, so, um, shamelessly love to have you check it out. Um, but anyway, uh, appreciate you guys, uh, listening. And if you're anything like me and you listen to podcasts on the go, I do it when I'm, I'm running, I do it when I'm driving, and I do it when I'm on the lawn doing the dishes.

Nick Clason (29:37):
The reality is, um, Kerry said so much good stuff in there and I would hate, hate for you to miss it. And so we, for free provide, uh, transcripts for every single episode. You can check those out at hybridministry.xyz or just, uh, read through it in your podcast catcher so that you're able to just see what's going on and, uh, hear what's going on and maybe take some notes, um, and take some of the things that you heard in your ears and put it to paper if you need it. Um, for conversations or for meetings with, uh, upper level leadership or whatever the case may be. We just wanna serve you and help you win in your area of ministry. So you can check that out at hybridministry.xyz. We're also on Twitter at hybrid ministry. We'd love to have you come hang out with us. And hey, listen, if you found this helpful one way that you could really help us out, um, a gigantic favor for us would just be male.

Nick Clason (30:26):
If you could give us a like, or a rating or a review, that would be very beneficial, help us pay it forward, um, and help you maybe pay it forward even to some other people who, who wanna help uncover and find this information. So, once again, grateful for you, thankful for you. Um, hope you guys have a great rest of your day, wherever you are, whatever you might be doing, and we pray that this is helping, um, make digital discipleship just a little bit easier for you in your ministry context. Until next time, talk to you later guys. Bye.

Episode 017: The Ultimate Social Media Framework for Churches to Reach Milennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha in 2022 and Beyond

Nick Clason — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 04:00:00 -0600

SUMMARY
In this episode, Nick talks through the core reasons why a Hybrid Strategy is the most effective way to reach the younger generations of milennials, Generation Z and Generation Alpha in 2022 and beyond.
For Transcripts and more head to http://www.hybridministry.xyz
Or join the conversation with us on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/hybridministry

SHOWNOTES
https://myyouthmin.com/

TIMECODES
00:00-02:40 Intro
02:40-05:33 Why Social Media is important for reaching people in 2022 and beyond?
05:33-10:01 Digital Ministry is not Physical Ministry and vice versa
10:01-13:14 How people interact with organizations and companies
13:14-15:31 Becoming All Things to All People
15:31-18:56 So now what do we do?
18:56-22:29 Final Encouragement
22:29-23:41 Outro

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:00):
What is up everybody? Welcome to another episode of the Hybrid Ministry podcast. I am your host, Nick Clason. Excited to be here with you this morning. And today on this episode, I wanted to talk and walk through a social media framework for 2022, the ultimate guide on how to reach Generation Z millennials and soon to be, I was just challenged on this week soon to be Generation Alpha. So recently I was asked by Youth Ministry 360 YM360 based out of Birmingham to write one of their modules for their MYM which is short for My Youth Mein. It's a training portal, training hub that they have on their website. And so I'm actually gonna have this coming out in December of 2022 on their YM page. And so I'm in the middle of a writing it, so it's not all the way flushed out yet, but there are some things I have already put together for it.

Nick Clason (01:25):
And so if you wanna see that full version, I'll just encourage you to head over there to that website by the 1st of December to check that out. It is behind a paywall. There is a five day free trial, I believe. So if that's something that interests you, go and check it out to see it in written form. But I'm gonna process some of my thoughts with you all here on this podcast and just work through it. And then honestly, I'm probably gonna go back and listen to this and use it as a piece and part of my research prep, whatever, to flesh out and build out the remaining pieces. So it's building a seven step framework for social media in 2022. Part one and part seven are gonna be introductory and concluding pieces. And then parts one through five are going to be looking at platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, emailing slash texting. So five is email and text. Put two in one. So all that to be said, the ultimate social media guide. Why that? Okay, so what we know about Generation Z what we know about millennials we've chatted about it here on this podcast, but I did find some new research to back it. So this generation, Generation Z in particular, is actually the very first generation to use their mobile

Nick Clason (02:59):
Device more frequently than all other devices combined. So in preexisting generations, millennials, Gen X, so on, so forth they did not use their cell phone or their mobile device more frequently. Then the combined use of other devices, tv, video games, computer, laptop, you fill in the blank, right? Generation Z is statistically the first generation to use their mobile device more frequently. What does that tell us? It tells us that they're mobile first. They are the first smartphone generation, essentially. And so that does bode to make sense, and that is something that you would probably expect. However, with research coming out to back it up, it's super interesting, fascinating. So right then again, the question is what do we do with that? Millennials and also Gen Z say that a hybrid version of church will suit their needs going forward in a post pandemic world. That obviously comes from bar's research six questions about hybrid ministry in a post pandemic world.

Nick Clason (04:14):
And then finally, lastly this statistic I came across that says that greater than 80% of 18 to 29 year olds, which is the youngest age data available legally, because you can't pull anyone younger than 18 but greater than 80% of that age bracket use at least one social media app regularly, which of all the age breakdowns is the highest, right? And it's assumed that even younger gen z gen alpha, remember I'm writing this for a youth ministry a youth ministry training thing. So I'm focused particularly on teenagers, not just church, but you as a church leader pastor, ministry leader this 18 to a nine year old, this should matter regardless, right? I'm trying to skew it even younger than that for this project. But they use at least one social media app regularly. So my conclusion on that is what this shows us is what we may already know in our gut, the digital ministry digital engagement is not going anywhere.

Nick Clason (05:29):
I do think that there's a notion that came out kind of post pandemic, that digital didn't work because anecdotally, all of us spent months separated from one another. And as soon as that was over six months, 12 months, 18 months, or however long it took for us to be locked down under certain layers of covid protocols, we all knew that we wanted to get back together. Depending on where you were and what part of the world, world and how you're doing ministry, there's this gut feeling of like, we gotta get back together. And that's a hundred percent a true statement. Human beings, we are social creatures. And so removing all forms of human interaction is of course gonna have some adverse effects. But I think that what happened was we all did in churches, we tried to take something that was being offered for an in-person experience, church service, gathering together small groups worshiping God through singing collectively as a congregation.

Nick Clason (06:28):
And then we tried to reproduce or even replicate the absolute identical experience or expression in an online forum, church, live streams, worship services, and those don't work or play in that same vein as well. And so you're getting a lesser product B in every other facet area of your life. You're being forced to sit out in relationships with other people. And so I know that in our student ministry, we went hardcore after digital ministry and it helped kind of facilitate and flush out our future our future version of student ministry. But the reality is it did not ultimately fill the void that was left by not gathering. So my conclusion, one you've probably heard before on this podcast is that in person environments centered around the gathering of believers helps fulfill a specific purpose. And digital environments also help fulfill a specific different purpose. The word different there is important, okay?

Nick Clason (07:41):
Because everything on social media has a reason, has a purpose and it is not to just replicate, redo, and fulfill what's going on in person. And so in a post pandemic landscape, those two things, both digital and in person, I think got pitted against one another. At least I know in the ministry context that I was in, there were debates and people were wondering, does online work, does in person work? And so I was forced to take a side. And as you know, if you've been a listener of this podcast for any length of time, the side I'm gonna take, I'm going to take digital, I'm going to defend digital. I think that it is an incredible tool that is unique to the time period that we are in. And one that I believe if any of the writers of scripture, apostles, whatever were around, they would be using digital to help expand their message and help expand the message of the gospel that's available to us through Jesus alone.

Nick Clason (08:55):
And so we got sort of pitted in this digital versus physical. I don't know about your context, but I know in the context that I was in, I don't work there anymore, but that I was in, that was a hot debate, Is it working? And if not, then we need to just come back and do this. And the reality is, I always had to find myself arguing, standing against digital. And then I realized once I left that what we were doing in digital is not able to fully replace and supplement the purposes of in-person church. So yeah, of course we're gonna see lesser results from that. We gotta figure out where to shoot it in the middle, where we can be hybrid. So it's not about a preference anymore. We don't live in a world that's black and white with in person being black, digital being white, and you have to pick one or the other.

Nick Clason (09:52):
We live in this sticky middle called hybrid. Hence why I have this name, the hybrid ministry podcast. I like to use the analogy of my relationship with Home Depot, right? Saturday mornings I activate my full dad mode, throwing on my new balances, my cargo shorts, my dad hats set out to accomplish some DIY project. And the only place that is possible to go and do that get materials and all the things is none other than the Home Depot. I know in your mind you are queuing the Home Depot theme song. So as I head to Home Depot, think about this, sometimes I drive over to the hardware store, I walk around, I explore, I just enjoy breathing the same Home Depot air with the other cargo, short new balance wearing dads just like me. That's a physical experience. Sometimes though, I get on the Home Depot website or the app and I order supplies to be delivered directly to my doorstep later on that week.

Nick Clason (10:51):
That's a fully digital experience of me interacting with Home Depot. And finally, probably honestly, the most usual thing I do is while I'm at Home Depot and I can't freaking find what I'm looking for, do you know what I do? I pull open the Home Depot app, I go to my specific store and the location finder, I look up what I'm looking for, and then when the app is able to tell me exactly which ILE in which bay number I can find my specific product in, boom, I'm in. And I'm out in all of those scenarios. I am a Home Depot customer, but I'm engaging with the company in three completely different ways. I'm engaging with them in person, I'm engaging with them through their digital means and presence. And I'm also using them in a hybrid form while I'm there using their digital app.

Nick Clason (11:43):
And I personally believe I'm pretty staunch about this, that the gospel is the greatest story ever written and ever told. And if we're working to reach our people with that exact same message that I think we should challenge them to engage with our church in all three arenas in person, digital, hybrid, in fact, more than just challenge them to engage with us in all three, I would actually challenge you. I would challenge me, I would challenge us as ministry leaders to find ways that is not just reproducing, replicating creating exact representations of what's going on in our church building. I'd find ways to permeate those three spaces. Think about this, right? If our only strategy to reach new students or to reach, I'm a youth pastor, I told you I'm writing this for why I'm through 60, but to reach new students or to reach other congregation members, if our only strategy is to invite kids to join in on our turf, on our space during our meeting time, during our program time, and then turn around and send those same kids to live out 167 other hours of their week beyond what just happened to live out their faith, is that enough?

Nick Clason (13:05):
And I don't know that it is, right? Yes, it is not our job to fully live out our students faith, but I'm reminded of what Paul says in First Corinthians nine. Here's what he says nine 19 through 23, Though I am free and I belong to no one, what I've done is I've made myself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible to the Jews. It became like a Jew to win the Jews to those under the law. I became the one under the law. Though I myself am not under the law so as to win those under the law to those not having the law, I became like one. Not having the law, though I'm not free from God's law, but I'm under Christ's law. And so as to win those not having the law to the weak, I became weak to win the weak.

Nick Clason (13:51):
I've become all things to all people so that by all means possible, ready, I might save some. And I do this for the sake of the gospel so that I might share in its blessings. If over 80% of mobile users are using at least one social media app regularly, how can we become all things to all people? The way that Paul says it, how can we show up where our students are already choosing to spend their time? So I believe that one way to do that is through a robustly flushed out social media and marketing strategy. We talked about this in an episode about the myth of marketing. And back when Matt was on the pod regularly, he said We were asking, Is it wrong to market Jesus? And he said, Don't think about marketing in the traditional sense of marketing. Our church has billboards and ads.

Nick Clason (14:52):
Though you may have those things, there's nothing wrong with those things. But what the goal ultimately of marketing is to build an awareness. And Seth Godin says, in an attempt to change the world through our messaging. And I would think, and I would argue that most of us as church or ministry leaders, we exist to make a difference in the world, to change the world through our message. And if we can do that beyond our once a week in person program gatherings, I think we should. So what do we do? So social media, church communications, they've taken on some interesting forms in recent years. Like, here's how this would go. A new social media platform would emerge. The church, of course would resist it. And then once widespread adoption by its members became a reality in something that was undeniable anymore, the church would then jump into that platform and it would view it as a good communication tool or a good means to an end to get the word across.

Nick Clason (16:04):
And so then, if you're ministry leader, church leader, pastor, you get this when the whirlwind, when the busyness of leaders, youth pastors, rather than creating a specific tailor made digital influence, discipleship focused social media strategy, it would basically turn that social media into a billboard saying, Hey, if you want, all I have to offer from a discipleship social media strategy framework, you have to drive over to my building and come to this event. Like I said earlier, social media platforms each have an individual purpose. They all have best practices to reach the audience or our congregation that is following us on those platforms. And we're able to use those to find and reach more people with the message of the gospel. Often, like I said, what happens is, no offense to your graphic design prowess, but your church-wide potluck graphic is probably not going to be as mesmerizing to outsiders as you are hoping that it would be.

Nick Clason (17:09):
And it's not. People are not just gonna accidentally scroll past your graphic about the church wide potluck and just come strolling into your church's C Gymatorium to eat t Sally's famous potato salad, No shade to t Sally. I'm sure that the recipe that she has for her potato salad truly is a one of a kind, but that is not gonna be your ultimate win on social media. The odds are that if you're reading this, if you're listening to this as a ministry leader, then you instinctively know this, that just posting graphics of your events is really not going to be the best way to run or do social media. And maybe even as a ministry leader, youth pastor, you have been shoulder tapped or shoulder maybe even voluntold, to become the church's communications director and social media manager, But to keep your head above water to post regularly, to do communication, to lead your ministry well, to communicate with parents, leaders, students, to prep messages that are good and relevant, and to plan amazing and awesome events to even maybe run the sound booth on Sunday morning in big church worship services.

Nick Clason (18:21):
Cuz you're the only one under the age of 30 in your church gnawing inside of you. You're aware that social media matters, that the stats that we've talked about, Gen Z using their phone more than any other device, that they want a hybrid experience with church, that over 80% use at least one app on a regular basis. So what do we do? How do we build out flesh out this robust social media platform? Like I said, the remainder of this project is gonna be on Nym YM three sixty.com. Head there, grab a free trial, love to encourage you to check that out if that's something that you're interested in. But before we leave, I just want to offer a couple of encouragements and reminders because maybe saying this, you're like, Yeah, gosh, dang, man, I know I need to do something, right? Okay, There's gonna be a lot to build out in a social media framework.

Nick Clason (19:26):
Okay, Here's my encouragements to you. Number one, you don't have to try and do it all, and you definitely don't have to try and do it all tomorrow, But as we walk through this, as we look at different platforms, as you dive in YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, email, texting, choose one platform that's gonna work in your context and go all in on that. First, as a ministry leader, I just wanna encourage you doing a great job. I mean, I don't know specifically, but if you have that tension, that pressure, that feeling of trying to do all these things, it means that you care and you're probably doing an amazing job in the areas that you are working on. And I want to just let you know, and I wanna encourage you to keep your head above water, right? It's gonna be okay. It's gonna work out learning a new platform. Honestly, it might feel like you have to learn to write a book with your left hand and it can feel clunky, awkward but really, truly, I just wanna encourage you, practice really does make perfect. Right now, I am rolling out a full blown social media strategy for the church that I'm working in which is brand new, and I got two other youth pastors on my team, and we're posting regularly

Nick Clason (20:47):
Three times daily to TikTok, and I can do it, I'm used to it. I've learned TikTok, I'm familiar in the editing framework in the app But the problem with that is twofold. Number one, if I just do it if you go to our TikTok channel, and already it is this way, but because I'm trying to slowly hand more and more stuff off to them, if you go there, you're gonna see a lot of me, and we're a team of three. And so our digital expression does not fully represent who we really are because there's three of us, not just me. And so that's problem number one. Problem number two is it's not beneficial for me to hoard and hold it all right? So I need to get them up to speed and feeling comfortable editing things so that they're also on social media and we're seeing their representation on our TikTok account.

Nick Clason (21:52):
And then finally, this one dovetails very closely to what I just said and list some help. Get on this with some friends, maybe some coworkers, maybe even use some students in your church, in your ministry who are much more native to some of these platforms. You don't have to try and learn it on your own because honestly, remember what Paul said, our job as pastors and ministry leaders is to equip the saints for works and acts of service. So that is the goal. The goal is not for you to be holding onto it all and entirely. So, hey guys, thank you so much for hanging out today on this episode. If you found this helpful, go download the seven Steps social media framework for reaching Gen Z and Gen Gen Alpha. It's gonna be live on my Youth Min or short MYM on YM360 here soon.

Nick Clason (22:50):
Ugh, it is behind a little bit of a membership paywall. I will warn you of that, but especially if you are in youth ministry, that membership is very much going to be well worth your time. So I'd really encourage you to go check it out and hang out with us. This full transcript is gonna be available hybridministry.xyz if you want to use it as convince your boss or to help thinking through the big picture realities of why social media matters. If you need to talk to a parent, a leader, a pastor, about why this is important, especially for you're in a ministry where you're leading the charge on that or come hang out with us on Twitter @hybridministry. Again, guys, thank you so much for hanging out had fun talking, chatting with y'all, and we will talk again next time.

Episode 016: Derry Prenkert on how the invention of the iPhone has radically changed how Pastors and ministry leaders accomplish the mission

Nick Clason — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 04:00:00 -0500

SUMMARY
In this episode, Nick sits down with his friend, Derry Prenkert, a 20+ year youth ministry veteran. Derry shares about the monumental shift of the invention of the smart phone. How things were before, and how things have shifted, but most importantly, how we utilize this technology for our benefit and gain to reach more students for the mission of Jesus.

Follow us on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/hybridministry
Find all the resources you need from the podcast http://www.hybridministry.xyz
Follow Derry online:
-TWITTER: https://twitter.com/derryprenkert
-INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/derryprenkert/
-PODCAST: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-third-decade-in-youth-ministry/id1338273697

SHOWNOTES
Steve Job's introduction of the iPhone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7qPAY9JqE4
Derry's Parenting Resource: https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/adolescence%2C-technology-and-parenting/training-3996.html
Johnny Mac's Stuff: https://yourhouseblend.com/jonnysblend

TIMECODES
00:00-03:30 Intro
03:30-10:53 The impact of the invention of the iPhone
10:53-14:30 What happened in ministry after the invention of the iPhone
14:30-23:20 How have you responded since then?
23:20-32:44 When do you ask phones to be put away?
32:44-41:23 How can we utilize technology now to further and advance God's mission?
41:23-43:38 Outro

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:00):
What is up everybody? Welcome to another episode of the Hybrid Ministry podcast. Excited to be with you today. Uh, today we have our very first, uh, guest interview, uh, friend of mine Derry Pinker. He's located in, um, Amish town, Nape Indiana. Um, right now, uh, he worked at that church for over 20 years, and then he was at another church for just a couple years, super large church in, uh, Kentucky. So, um, excited to bring you Derry's conversation. Uh, he mentions a couple of different links. He talks about Steve Jobs' keynote, a resource that he has on download youth ministry and echo ministry. I'm gonna include all of those in the show notes, but without any further ado, let's just hop in so you can get to know Derry.

Nick Clason (00:51):
All right, well, what's up Derry? Good to have you on the podcast. Welcome, man.

Derry Prenkert (00:56):
Yeah, it's so good to be with you, Nick. Thanks for having me on.

Nick Clason (00:58):
Yeah. So as we were talking a little bit before I hit record here, you have a podcast or did, or what would you define the, the existence of your podcast? Right Now?

Derry Prenkert (01:11):
The status of my third decade. It is, it has been on the longest hiatus ever. Um, yeah. And it is coming back. Um, it's tied to this whole world of the shift that I've, I've made from being in a local church to now serving pastors in the local church. Yeah. And I'm in a season of getting all the groundwork laid for that. I, uh, have every intention, every intention by, uh, early 2023 that it's gonna launch back out. And there are some, there are actually some things already recorded for it, so, so it hasn't completely gone away. There, there is, there is a future to it.

Nick Clason (01:46):
That's good. Cuz it's still in my podcast catcher, so I'm not unsubscribing from, I just wanna let you know that it's still there. So, um, but back when I mowed the lawn when I worked two churches ago, I think I heard you, um, talk about like, uh, this really big shift in culture and you noticed that it was, uh, have to do with when the iPhone came into existence. Mm-hmm. , just give us a little bit, like give us your story, how long you've been, you know, doing youth ministry, um, and how you have a beneficial perspective of before technology and phones are a part of what we have to navigate and deal with. And then post, and then maybe we can just kind of chat about how we navigate that as, you know, people who are, uh, ministering to people, students, um, who are very much entrenched in this technology, like Lane and world.

Derry Prenkert (02:42):
Yeah, absolutely. So, um, my story is somebody that started in youth ministry at 19 years old. I was just about to turn 20 and I started an internship and that was back in 1996. Mm-hmm. . Yeah, I'm old. Um, and so graduated from high school in 95, start in, in ministry in 96. And so I get 11 years of ministry. Um, and in those 11 years, uh, you know, cell phones, car phones were around when I started . Yeah. And cell phones were around when I finished college in 1999. But they were, they roamed the minute you got outside of about 10 miles from your house and you only use them in emergencies. And then, and then it moved into, you know, 2004, 2005, the razor flip. Flum was the coolest thing in the world is texting, kind of entered the picture mm-hmm. . Um, and then, you know, so I, but, but really it was 2007 when Steve Jobs holds up this, this phone.

Derry Prenkert (03:36):
And it's actually interesting to go back and watch, I don't know if you've ever watched that keynote when he does it. No, I should, but, but he, he, he introduces it and is pretty prophetic, like the level of what he's talking about where technology is heading. Cause he said this is gonna revolutionize and change. And he says, he says, What would happen if we were to introduce a computer operating system, a phone and a iPod all in one thing. Yeah. And that's, that's the heartbeat of what they did. Um, and actually I, I do a technology thing with parents, uh, adolescents, technology and parenting. Mm-hmm. , uh, what I do is, I'll actually, it's, it's a fun little exercise cuz if you think about, you got, most parents of teenagers right now are, are there children of the eighties if they're really, if they've got younger, like their youngest kids are teenagers now, nineties or maybe early two thousands mm-hmm. . And so what I do is I'll put up on the screen different, like, what was the technology of our time. And so like, you know, in the eighties you got like VCRs and corded phones and, and a Walkman or a giant computer that has a green screen maybe.

Nick Clason (04:41):
Yeah. I found the VCR yesterday in our building, so that was cool,

Derry Prenkert (04:46):
Dude. And, and did you try playing anything? Cause it probably just ate the tape, right?

Nick Clason (04:49):
Yeah, no, I was like, I don't, I don't even know if we would ever need this, but, Right. Yeah. Here it

Derry Prenkert (04:53):
Is. Yeah. Yeah. It's, see the, in the eighties in technology, like everything got fixed by blowing on it. Um, so like the VHS tape wasn't working. You blew on it. The, the Nintendo cartridge. Yep. You blew in that and then blew in the box. Mm-hmm. . So that was, you know, eighties in the nineties, you have cell phones come, you got the Discman mm-hmm. that I remember. I would, as the nineties I would run or exercise with a discman, but I had to be careful not to run too hard because the CD would skip Yeah.

Nick Clason (05:17):
As I skipping. I

Derry Prenkert (05:18):
Remember that. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and then, you know, early two thousands social media in MySpace shows up. Yep. But, you know, garins show up, Uhhuh, um, digital cameras are a big deal in another 2000 flat screen TVs. Right. So we walk through these different, different moments and I say in 2007, Steve Jobs holds up this, this little device. And everything I just said was around in those different decades now lives inside this single device. Mm. Interesting. It is your video games. It is your music, you know, it's your disc man, it's your VCR or your DVD player. It is your

Nick Clason (05:53):
Computer, your calendar. Yeah.

Derry Prenkert (05:55):
Yeah. It's everything. It's all there. And, and so for parents, it's just saying like, recognize how significant this shift is. And so for those of us in ministry, if we are in that age, it's important to recognize that for those of us that are, I I, a lot of youth pastors are maybe a little, um, younger than the parents that they have. Right. Remember, like, these are the parents you're working with that, that this shift has happened. It might be a little more native to you as a youth pastor if you're in your, your mid to early twenties mm-hmm. . But it's foreign. It's, it's, it's so different and, and it's, it's changed so much. Um, the two things to kind of say, when I look at youth culture, cuz that's where I spent a lot of my time Yeah. That I would say are huge, is, uh, one youth group in church.

Derry Prenkert (06:40):
I was at a church that ha drew from multiple high schools. And pre 2007, we were the place to go to connect with friends. Hmm. Um, now we saw God move and we were, we were, we were unapologetic that that wasn't the, that wasn't the primary point. The primary point was to encounter a relationship with Jesus, to understand your call, to be a part of this kingdom work. But the appeal for my kids, I'm gonna drop names that nobody knows from Wawa c high school at Northwood High School. Mm-hmm. and Goshan High School. Someone knows each other. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Um, uh, they can meet weekly at our place. Right. Uh, now with the institution of not only, you know, the, just the move of the cell phone with texting, but then once the iPhone came in, it wasn't just you, you could, you didn't have to go there to meet a place you could actually interact face to face, you know, through FaceTime, through, through, um, whatever it might be.

Derry Prenkert (07:33):
Google Meet all do different stuff. You could, you could do that over the phone. So it became less important. The other thing that's super intriguing is, I don't know about Eich, but the greatest day of my life, uh, as a teenager was when I turned 16 in one month in my town, because that was the day I could get my driver's license. Yeah. And by getting my driver's license, that meant a whole new, uh, level of freedom, empowerment, and ownership. Like that driver's license was my ticket to independence. Yeah. I've noticed, um, a major change. I can't believe how many kids I interact with that are like 16, 17 and, you know, we're doing an event. They're like, Hey, can I get a ride? I'm like, You don't have your license yet. Yeah. No. And, and, and, and I I don't have like the scientific proof to this, just the conversation.

Derry Prenkert (08:25):
Sure. It's, they're like, Why would I, why would I need it? Well, yeah, the big shift came like that that license was my way to get to my friends. Mm-hmm. and my community. Now, this, this thing that we can hold in our hands is our ticket to interact. And so, so like one of the, I guess like the big implication that I would throw out that is huge is it it has radically transformed our connectivity mm-hmm. , um, even with the people right next to us. Yeah. Um, so I mean, so many other thoughts, but there's, those are just a couple things like that we recognize. Another way I say it is like we basically now are carrying around super computers in our pockets. Yeah. That, uh, it's, they are that we're, we have, we have excessive, uh, access to information. We are, we are constantly connected. Um, and it's like invasive, you know, it's not like it's, when's the last time I I I, you can answer this or the people are listening, When's the last time you actually turned off powered down your phone

Nick Clason (09:26):
On your own? Well, mine's new, so never

Derry Prenkert (09:29):
Yeah. .

Nick Clason (09:30):
Right,

Derry Prenkert (09:30):
Right. And it's, it's like impossible to, like, they've made it so it's hard to do. And so it's always there. Now, now I might sound like I'm interesting. Yeah. I'm negative on this. I do mourn more in some things because I'm old and I'm an old guy sitting saying, Get off my lawn kids. You know, a little bit. But, um, but those are some of the things that I think are big that have changed. And so, so just the way we go about ministry has to change with it. It is in my mind, we measure time on before and after like, events that come to mind in youth ministry world, most youth pastors that were around before Columbine mm-hmm. and after Columbine, they know it changed the way you had to handle liabilities and safety

Nick Clason (10:10):
Measures. Yeah.

Derry Prenkert (10:11):
Mm-hmm. pre nine 11. Post nine 11 as a, as a culture, our life shifted on how we view, uh, things pre covid, post covid. We're still learning that all. Yeah. I still could make the argument pre iPhone and post iPhone, pre smartphone and post iPhone could be, could be the most significant watershed cultural moment that we've experienced in the LA since World War ii. Yeah.

Nick Clason (10:35):
I don't, one of, one of like, I, one of the guys I listen to a lot, his name, you know, Brady Shear mm-hmm. , he talks about this being the biggest communication shift that we've seen in 500 years. So he's referencing that being the printing press. Yeah. And now with all this digital stuff. So that's a great call. Let's go like, let's go there a little bit. You said, um, pre iPhone people would gather from multiple high schools to your church. Did you notice that stopping, um, after, did you notice attendance shifting or did you just notice that still happens but there's, there's now just an iPhone in everyone's pocket and that's changing how they're interacting. But things are still, still sort of the same. Like, what would you say was, uh, like a, an actual effect, right? Yeah. Of that attendance thing you're talking about.

Derry Prenkert (11:25):
This is not scientific at all. It's very guttural and it's nature. Uh, and it's my experience, I would say it didn't, for some it stopped. But I would say the bigger thing is it got more sporadic. In fact, you we're just talking, I don't know, it would be fascinating. You know, they talk about how people are coming to church less often Right. Than they used to. That a regular attendant is, attender is considered once every month or once every three weeks. Right? Yep. I wonder how that correlates to the institution of like the, the actual cell phone and smartphone because Yeah, because that was the thing. Like pre pre smartphone, um, even kids from the same school, there was the chance to just, you know, we're not just going through in passing periods. We're gonna have a small group time. We're gonna have a pre hangout post hangout mm-hmm.

Derry Prenkert (12:09):
once a week. This is my guaranteed time. I'm gonna get time with my friends. Yeah. Um, and so it got more sporadic. Yeah. Uh, definitely. And, and that could be in part because they could have the community outside of the youth group. Um, but it still, that's why I would, I would still be a firm believer. There is a limitation to what you can accomplish over digital. I think anybody that truly had to walk through the PA pandemic and live completely on a screen would a hundred percent agree with me. You can't replace, um, interpersonal in person reaction Totally. With digital. But you can find more connection or, or you can find connection in the gaps through that. And so I think it got more, um, more sporadic, uh, in nature. And yes, they are showing up with them. And I mean, man, whew, how many conversations do I have?

Derry Prenkert (12:58):
I had with parents and leaders on, We gotta, we gotta, we gotta like force kids to turn these off or tell 'em they can't have 'em at all. And then, and then the issue of parents talking about what age do I give my kid a phone? When do I not? Because not only are they carrying it around, I mean, it's just, it's just there. And so the amount of attention that was going down to it when they were around that, that I'd say kinda really hit in the two, like 2014 15 phrase when everybody got one. Mm-hmm. , uh, everybody had one.

Nick Clason (13:28):
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like, even my kids in first grade and his teacher sended stuff on his like e backpack and then his like e folder and he has like iPad time. Like, so my sort of thing is, while you may lament the loss of some of what was prefo and pre-technology, um, it's not going anywhere. And so, you know, cuz I, I'm with you sometimes I have leaders who are like, We just need to get rid of the phones, take 'em away from the kids. Like make sure that they, you know, only use paper bibles and that, you know, it's, it's wrong to read God's word on a screen type of thing. And that's, that's a high preference maybe mm-hmm. . And there may be some validity to some of those things, but the fact of the matter is like, why, You know, my argument is why are we discouraging a kid from reading the Bible if it's super accessible to them and in their pocket 24 hours a day?

Nick Clason (14:25):
Um, you know, so, So what have you noticed or what are some of the things that you've done realizing like, we can't, we can't get ourselves away from these. They are everywhere. They're on all the time. They are our everything. Our day planner, our calendar and our social life in a lot of ways. You know, like what are some of the things that you've, you've tried to embrace as a youth pastor, um, to maybe leverage them or lean into them and then maybe what are some of the times that you've discouraged use of them? Because you're like the, the, you know, the re the result of what's gonna happen here physically is gonna be greater than what is happening if you're on your

Derry Prenkert (15:02):
Phone. Yeah. It's great. Um, in the thing I do with parents, which total shameless plug, it's actually on D ym, you get it, download Youth Mystery

Nick Clason (15:12):
And then you have an extra $4 in your pocket. Yeah, yeah,

Derry Prenkert (15:15):
Yeah. From that roof. Yeah. It's called Adolescents Parenting and Technology. I use an illustration. I, and I, it's an illustration that, that hit me is our phones are a knife, um, and a knife, uh, can serve many purposes. Uh, a knife is, can be used to spread butter. It can be used to whittle wood to make, uh, amazing things. It can be, it can be, uh, used to, you know, cut through things that are hard to cut through. It also can be used to kill people. Um, it's really about what is happening with the person that has it in their hands. And a part of that is what's their intentions as well as what's their awareness of a knife. You know, I've got, you've got younger kids. Mm-hmm. , I had a six year old that early on, he just got us obsessed with our steak knives when he was three or four.

Derry Prenkert (16:03):
And we had to like, put those things up high cuz he just, he didn't understand the danger involving those knives. Right. Um, and, and so, uh, so with that, like, with that illustration in mind and looking at it that way, I, I look at this thing, a knife is really, for the most part neutral. Unless it's this crazy butcher knife that is, for the most part, a knife is neutral. It's what you're doing with it in your hands. So then it becomes about making sure to check your motives as well as prepare the person that has it in their hands to use it in the right way and to know how to use it in the right way. And, um, I think in that, like, especially if we're talking to ministers and I, I would put this across the board, in fact mm-hmm. , I would argue that senior pastors teaching pastors should be coaching, uh, 50, 60 year olds how to utilize their phones wisely, even more so than those that are just growing up with it, a native part of their life.

Derry Prenkert (17:03):
Hmm. Um, cuz I don't see a lot of students, uh, just making a fool of themselves on how they treat people on, on social media is, uh, as much as I see adults, uh, in what they're saying and everything else. So, so the, it's across the board. Like we have a responsibility to look at what does scripture say about, especially from a discipleship aspect of how we are to love our neighbors ourselves, and then how does it play out on this thing, you know? Mm-hmm. . So, so that would be, that would be a thing. So, um, so that's just, sorry, little rant there, but the knife and, and, and we, we have a responsibility to show them. Uh, I am a big fan Nick, of just intentionality in ministry overall. I think a lot of pastors, uh, I'm, I'm dedicating really, I feel like the second, second half of my life is I just want youth pastors and any pastors to be healthy in ministry.

Derry Prenkert (17:53):
And a big part of that is guarding your own heart. Um, another part is just thinking clearly and strategically in Christ's focus and inten and intentionality in what you're doing is a big part of that. Um, and so I would, I would argue that anybody that is in charge of a program, uh, a ministry, uh, any regular ministry gathering, there should be a side to say, Okay, what's our philosophy in how phones play into this? Mm-hmm. . And it can take up a lot of different forms. Yeah. One is what's our, so we're gonna be teaching this series, How's it showing up on their phones? Mm-hmm. , are we gonna do digital notes that they can look at while they're in the room? Are we going to do follow up stuff through social media that's gonna create interaction? Um, you've done some great stuff on the importance of don't just use your social media of as a, as a billboard that uses this interactive place.

Derry Prenkert (18:47):
You know, thinking through those things. Mm-hmm. , um, how are we going to actually handle the phones inside the space? What are, are, are, uh, uh, to what, what do we need to take into account if a middle school, I, I'm helping out in middle school right now, and I'm at a pretty conservative community mm-hmm. where I'd say it's six through eight grade, I would say no more than half the kids are, are actually walking in with smartphones. Now I know some would go, That's ridiculous. Well, that's my community. Sure. So I need to be thinking through, um, that I, I have to have a path for the non phone user. Right. But also I need to be thinking through for the phone user to begin to show them now. Like, Hey, if you're gonna follow Jesus, that plays out in this thing. Yeah.

Derry Prenkert (19:28):
So how do we do that? So what, what am I teaching? You know, when I get to the practical steps of my teaching, how am I intentionally saying, Hey, this is how this plays out on your phone. You know, that can be a part of it. Um, and then, and then I think, uh, there's just the overall, uh, idea of, I, I have kind of these categories I think through that I want to try to do inside the programming. And this is very youth ministry specific. I want to have times where, uh, where they have it and it's on, but they're encouraged to put it to, to the side mm-hmm. and not access it at all. Because, because we need to be able to do that in real life at times. Mm-hmm. , you know mm-hmm. . And so small groups, a lot of times, I don't know if you have this some, sometimes they'll do like the basket or, or, or things to say, Hey, it's here.

Derry Prenkert (20:14):
Or just even stack them in the middle of the room like, it's here, but we're not gonna use Oh yeah. Use that right now. Yeah. And, um, or it's just even a, Hey, let's put this in our pockets. Just hang tight with me for a little bit. Um, then there's then there's times where it's like off or not there at all. And we can talk about that one a little bit more. Probably it'd be a good one of, of, Hey, this is a no cell phone situation. Yeah. I think that's very debatable on how much we're often, but there's times where it's important to just, I mean, uh, solitude, simplicity, um, making sure that we're not controlled by things all apart of following Jesus. But then most importantly is we're gonna have times where we use this thing in a redemptive manner. Yeah. Um, we're gonna find ways.

Derry Prenkert (20:57):
So, so we are closing out and we've talked about, uh, the importance of praying for others and what ha you know, maybe we're doing a series on prayer and it's about praying for others. And, and what we say is, Okay, here's what we're gonna do right now. If you have a phone, I want you to pull it out and I'm just gonna ask the Lord to speak to us, to give you a name right now as somebody you could pray for. Hmm. And, and now I want you to pull out your phone and I want you to text them, not not, not text them that you are praying for them, actually text out what your prayer for them is. Hmm. Or when you walk out the room tonight, I want you to use that little voice memo thing. I did this this morning. Uh, I got a friend who just started first day in ministry today. I, I did a voice memo to him that was just solely my prayer and that was it. Like, here's my prayer for you today as you started on ministry. Yeah. That's cool. So, so finding ways to use it, redemptively. So again, I kind of went different, but use it redemptively. Find ways to put it to the side, find ways to turn it off or not have it there at all. And do all of that intentionally.

Nick Clason (21:51):
Yeah. I mean, a lot, a lot of what we say on here is that digital and physical, uh, both are important, but they're both categorically different. And so that's why I do think there is value in things that are strictly physical only. I think, like you said, we learned a lot of things about ourselves and people during covid when what was physical could not be completely replicated digitally. Yeah. Um, and vice versa. Right. And that's, that's the thing too, is like, I think the vice versa piece is like, there are some digital things that are digital only, like mm-hmm. me. Like you can do message recaps and, and things like that where you're calling back to what you did, um, throughout the week. Like on things like social media where people are not physically gathering in your room on a Tuesday morning, or they can be reading a u version plan on their own when they wake up on Thursday afternoon, you know, at lunch, whatever.

Nick Clason (22:46):
So mm-hmm. , that's, that's this whole idea of hybrid is it's, there is room for, for physical only. And there's also space, I think for digital. And that's part of the thing is we've, and I think a lot of churches are kind of running up into this, is they're, uh, Hey, you're, you're a youth pastor so you have to do all of it. Mm-hmm. , it's like these are two completely like different lanes. And so there's, I mean, there's staffing conversations and budget conversations I think like around all these things that are gonna be coming, coming down the pike at, at churches, so mm-hmm. , what would you say are times, um, maybe where you would, you would say, Hey, let's put phones away all together. Maybe talk about like camp situation Sure. Or, or retreats or whatever. Yeah. I'm sure that's probably one of the, the main ones that comes to people's minds.

Derry Prenkert (23:32):
Yeah. Yeah. Nick, you and I are a part of different youth ministry communities. Um, Facebook groups are a wonderful mess at times. . And one of the, one of the hot topics amongst many other things is when this gets asked of, Hey, what's your policy on cell phones? And it's interesting. It's like just hot takes start firing all over the place. Right. So, um, I was a part of one church for 23 years mm-hmm. , and I was a part of another church for 2.3 years. That's my little joke, uhha. But, um, , uh, in the one church that I was at for 23 years that I also grew up where technology was unfolded. And we, we had a hard and fast rule that really any trip that we did, we started with the idea of no cell phones would be allowed. And it was because we had a high emphasis on interactivity and, and, and it, cell phones weren't around when we set the rule.

Derry Prenkert (24:24):
It was, you can't bring your walkmans, your discmans your game boys because we're here to interact with each other. And the minute you look down on that thing, you're not there. So that just kind of lended itself over to cell phones and everything else. Mm-hmm. . And so, um, so any camp retreat, anything like that, we just, we put a pretty hard and fast rule with the one except perception being our senior retreat that we do with grads. We'd say, Hey, you can bring it. It was almost like this. Oh, you're old enough now. I, I don't know that I liked the motives in it, um, in, in it all. So, but then I went to, uh, another church where it was like, you can have them all the time mm-hmm. . Um, which, and the interesting thing I saw was effective ministry was taking place in both situations.

Derry Prenkert (25:09):
Um, but we hadn't really stopped and re strategized in my 23 year church to say, Hey, we're kind of, we kind of just stumbled into this, but these things are so much a part of his life. So we need to understand when we ask a kid to leave theirself at home, we're asking them to leave their most prized valuable mm-hmm. , um, possession mm-hmm. at home. Um, and then at the other church it was like, it's all there. But where we really said, Hey, how are we, are we, are we assessing how we're we're using these? And so I don't, I don't come from the mindset that says definitely no. Or definitely yes. As much as, again, back to that word, intentionality. Yeah. Um, have a plan. Yeah. Talk about it. So, so where we really landed, where at the church I was just at, was, um, if the event is going to be primarily focused on those that don't know Jesus coming into the situation, we're gonna be very hesitant to say he phones.

Derry Prenkert (26:06):
Yeah. Because they're not gonna get the idea of it. If the event is, is high, um, service based, um, intentional discipleship mm-hmm. and deepening, we're gonna stop and say, Hey, you know what, let's, this might be a time, Yeah. Let's evaluate this, where we're gonna maybe more lean toward this is a no-go, but then we're gonna say, here's why it's a no-go. If it's heavy discipleship, it's gonna say, this is gonna be a significant time. Where the primary things we're gonna do is we're gonna focus in on your connection with God and your connection with others, and we're gonna challenge you to find ways to do that outside of the technical technological world. Can you do that inside the technological world? Absolutely. But we see the value of a break. Um, and so that's kind of where we landed. Uh, but I mean the, the, I'm back, I'm back around the church that I was at for 23 years, though a lot of the rules are still in place that if it's a trip or retreat, it's no go. The interesting thing is, um, parents hated a whole lot more than students did.

Nick Clason (27:03):
Yeah. Now they were the one were noticing that too. Yep.

Derry Prenkert (27:05):
Yeah. If you, I would argue you wanna try to institute a no cell phone rule and you don't have it, it's gonna be really hard and it may not be worth the fight and it won't be because the kids, it's gonna be the parents. Parents are be, How do I get a hold of Johnny? Yeah. And, you know, in whatever case. Um, but, but when we take seniors on the retreat, when we were taking them, you know, and we'd allow to have phones, it just naturally had come up in conversations. They would go, Wait, are you gonna start allowing this for other kids on your, on, on campus? Like, we didn't have. And and I'm like, and, and I'd get into the conversation with 'em like, Oh, are you ticked because you had to suffer through not having 'em. Yeah. And you're, and you wanna make sure they get punished like you did.

Derry Prenkert (27:42):
And the seniors would be like, No, no. Like, I'd love that. We didn't have 'em. Yeah. I, I I actually would come back from camp. So grateful that you really pushed that on us for that time. Mm-hmm. . Now, is that right or wrong? No, I, I like, does that mean that you absolutely shouldn't do it? No, but it was just, it's an interesting aspect to it all. So again, long, long talking to just say it's about intentionality, it's about thinking through why would we want to do this? Mm-hmm. and then, and then making sure to communicate to those that are participating. And if it's in youth ministry, the parents of saying here's why. Yeah. Um, and then being ready for a fight, if you wanna say No phones. Cause it's, it's a challenge.

Nick Clason (28:20):
Yeah. That, No, that's really good. And again, right, like there's things that only physical can accomplish and there's things that only digital can accomplish. And I think an experience like a camp or whatever, there is a lot of connection that needs to take place. And most students, and you know, back to what you said earlier, people in church like don't know how to live in a world where it's just that where their phone isn't constantly dinging or lighting up or vying for their attention. And so I, I too have noticed in those types of environments where students, people are like grateful and thankful or say, man, like I'm, I haven't even like, wanted my phone. They're kinda surprised by it. You know, that that's, that's kind of the case. So Yeah. It's so

Derry Prenkert (29:05):
Interesting. Can I give two practical, just real practical tips if you choose to do no phones, especially if you're a youth pastor. Yeah, yeah. Um, one is bring in a, at at least one, maybe multiple people who's their sole job is to capture photos and videos of the experience mm-hmm. . And at the beginning of the experience, make sure that the students know who that person is, because one of the things you're asking them to sacrifice is

Nick Clason (29:28):
Capturing, capturing

Derry Prenkert (29:30):
The memories

Nick Clason (29:30):
Of

Derry Prenkert (29:31):
It all. And that's bigger than ever, right? Yeah. Because they can do that. And so making sure that that's there, and then making all those photos and videos available as soon as you possibly can. Um, and I, I noticed that, um, the, a camp I was at this summer there, the photographer was actually uploading those, um, to their social media platform, like with a link while the camp was there, even though the kids didn't have phones, so that as soon as they got home within like one hour, the kids were like posting their, you know, their real, their reels that recaps, like that's good. Building up all the stuff on the, That's really good. So I think that's a big one. And then two is think through your strategic feedback loop to parents. The parent freakout is, I don't, I, how do I know? Well mm-hmm.

Derry Prenkert (30:14):
, if you have a, a way of saying, Hey, here's, here's where you can go, um, whether it's a Facebook page or group, or if it's your Instagram, or if it's even like a, a remind, uh, setup or whatever, texting, like, here's where it's at. We found that Facebook lives where you could at a camp mm-hmm. , um, actually doing a, Hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go live at this time. I'm actually gonna give you a little glimpse into the session just for a short bit so you can just see what's going on and then come back and update you. And the beauty of a Facebook Live, every parent is still on Facebook, uh, for the most part. So they, they, they're there and so they can jump on live and then you can let it sit there. So, um, but those two things will, will go a long way in helping the resistance you might get. Um, when it comes to the no phone

Nick Clason (31:00):
Rule. Yeah. We, we, we do, we've done like a photographer and my, my favorite, and it always depends on like if the church or I have the budget to pull this off, but like get a videographer as well, or the same person, um, and have them do a daily, like, recap video. Those are great for opening your like sessions, but they're also amazing to throw up on YouTube and then text a link out. And so, you know, parents who, uh, send their kids without phone or whatever, they feel this like sense of relief if like they see their kid. Absolutely. Then the downside is one, one time I had to, uh, remove a clip because a kid was like picking his nose and the mom like, wanted it out. Yeah. Um, and then another time ano a mom was like, I haven't seen my kid in any of the recap bees. Yeah. And I'm trying not to freak out, but like, are they having fun? Like, are they making friends? Like, and I get it, like as a, as a dad myself, you know, now, like I would also want to try and like lay eyes on my kids. So

Derry Prenkert (32:01):
Totally same. Totally same. Actually Gabe, the pastor at the church that I'm serving with now, he did a meal time at camp and he just said, Okay, who needs to see their kid Facebook Live, , who needs to see their kid? And he just went around and said, funny. And he put up the phone, he said, Tell your mom you're okay. And, and it was like one of the most viewed Yeah. There are a lot of people there, so Yeah. And that is legit. And it's, you gotta be ready for it for that whole world. And, um, it is, that is evidence again, of the different world. And, and as a parent of a high schooler and a middle schooler, I wasn't at the high school camp. I was at the middle school camp. I was watching for my kid. Yeah.

Derry Prenkert (32:38):
That I didn't quite quite realize. So.

Nick Clason (32:40):
All right. Last, last thing. Um, how can we, as pastors, people in ministry, what are ways there that you see that we can optimize technology, um, now Cause like the overall mission, right? Of the church mm-hmm. to make disciples. And Paul used, you know, the thing available to him writing letters at the time to reach churches that he was not near. So what are some ways, just maybe a couple ideas off the top of your head that you have seen effective or ideas that maybe you haven't seen totally fleshed out, but are ruminating inside. Like Yeah. Where we can use what is available to us in technology. I mean, even the fact that I'm sitting in Texas here in northern Indiana and we're having this conversation and we're seeing each other, like, that's an advantage that wasn't available to us pre 2007. Right. And so, uh, what are some of those things maybe that you have seen or have thought about that we can use to our advantage to help kids take steps closer to Jesus?

Derry Prenkert (33:40):
Yeah. Let me throw you a little bit of a curve on where I might go with this to start only, um, in that I've been a part of large to very large churches mm-hmm. , and you've been a part of larger churches where there's a budget that's available and mass communication through technology. And so our minds might immediately go to Yeah. Podcasts and video streams mm-hmm. and, uh, you know, Instagram and getting somehow in with you version so you can build up a Bible reading plan. And I Yes. Yeah.

Nick Clason (34:10):
But I would it if you can

Derry Prenkert (34:11):
Yeah. I would say pastors and ministers to remember to that this is an incredible one to one ministry tool still mm-hmm. . And so, um, and, and this has gotten especially big to me as I've shifted over into this world now where my primary job that I says God's called me to is just to pastor pastors, especially those that are youth pastors. Well, they're all over the nation. Yeah. And so, um, last night, Sunday night for me, I'm recognizing I was just like, Lord, who are the people right now that might just kind of be in that spot that a word of encouragement or a check-in could go a long way? And there were, there were four texts that were sent out to individuals going, Hey, you're on my mind. How did today go? Or what's going on in your mind? Woke up this morning and like I already told you about, there was one guy that is first day he shifted from the education world to the church world.

Derry Prenkert (35:03):
Hmm. And so, um, so I, I would just start by saying yes, I mean, as we think about the massive ways to do it, let's not forget that pastoring at its best that's good is a one to one, a one to three relationship mm-hmm. . And so, uh, connecting with our parishioners are people that we're discipling, whoever they might be, uh, through the phone and doing it healthily and thinking through safeguards and all those things are really important, especially for youth pastors. Um, which probably is a whole other episode to talk through at some point. . Yeah. But, um, but to understand like, this is a ministry tool at its core. And so a a properly placed text, phone call, FaceTime, um, like, or comment on a, um, on a, on a post, uh, can is, is ministry, like, is deep ministry and meaningful ministry at times.

Derry Prenkert (35:53):
Mm-hmm. . Um, That's great. It was interesting Nick, uh, my former youth pastor, uh, my dad died 10, uh, 13 years ago now, and my former youth minister is no longer in youth ministry. And, but it was an incredible influence on my life. Mm-hmm. . And it was about, uh, it was, it was right around eight years after my dad had died, I posted just a memory of him and below in the comment section, my old youth pastor got on and he, all he wrote was, I'm so proud of you Derry. And I read that and I lost it. And, and I talked to him and, and what happened in that moment was like, I realized, uh, can, like, thank you. I miss I miss having my dad, and I'm not, I don't have a dad that can physically say to me, I'm proud of you anymore.

Derry Prenkert (36:39):
And I'm, I'm like a 36 year old man, like blubbering over my youth pastor telling me he's proud of me. But it's because he, he, in that moment, he ministered to me through a simple comment on a Facebook group mm-hmm. that also helped me work through some grieving that I was at. I hadn't really just walked through and said, God, I'm kind of ticked, I'm kind of ticked right now because I've lost, like, why did this happen? And, and it helped me kind of break through to a new level. And so, so anyway, like just, I, I, that's the one thing I would just say is as we think through the strategic and the greater stuff, let's not forget this is a incredible tool for the most effective ministry that is relational and personal in nature. That's good. That's good. Um, um, I would say otherwise though too is, um, I have a good friend, John McAllen, Johnny Mack, he did this thing, he started, it was called Echo Ministry.

Derry Prenkert (37:25):
And the idea was how do you take and create echos of what's happening on the, on the weekend? How do you have the message echo through the rest of the week? And our technology, our cell phones are such a primary tool to make that happen. You said it so well, there are things that we can do now because we have these, um, where it can show up in the moment, in, in different ways, uh, whether it's, uh, uh, a thinking through, uh, devotional journey, like I said, through you version. Mm-hmm. , uh, uh, the youth group that I just was at for the last couple of years, they're doing a thing called sale up Moments every week. They have just one moment that, that where they, they use on social media where they say, Okay, you're scrolling through, but stop, exhale, um, and listen to God allow 'em to speak to you.

Derry Prenkert (38:16):
You know? And there's a whole acronym to it. I can't remember what the H was good. Yeah. I like that. You know, have a burger, I think was the last, no, I can't remember what the H was, but, um, they, they, they walked through it and, and so using that was, um, was, was a way to do it. So I, I think it's that matter of how can we echo it mm-hmm. . And there's a lot, you know, podcasts can be a part of it. Uh, I started something called Digging Deeper with our main services when I was, uh, at my own church. And, and what we did was every Wednesday I would sit down with whoever was preaching mm-hmm. . And if I, I, I was a part of the teaching time. If I was preaching, somebody else would come in and the first thing we'd say, Hey, hey, what hit the cutting room floor?

Derry Prenkert (38:53):
What were you not able to get to this weekend that you wish you could have? And people just love that aspect, but then we would pick it part a little bit more mm-hmm. . And so, and it, it's not hard. It's a, you know, get, get a little basic, um, Yeah. Recording set up and you can get it set up pretty easy. Um, and so there's just so many ways, but I would just start with the, like, how can we echo into the week, what happened on the weekend Yep. And use it on a digital format.

Nick Clason (39:16):
Yeah. No, that's good. I, I also personally think that we don't know yet like, the answer to some of these questions. Yeah. Like, I still think that there's, uh, things yet to be discovered, you know, in front of us. And so I think, uh, if there's any sort of like, challenge for anyone listening, I would just say like, just do something. Um, and you may stumble upon something great. You may find some stuff that's terrible and you need to cut it out. Um, but if you're, if you're always looking that direction, uh, you'll, you'll stumble upon something good that you maybe don't even know, or you maybe didn't, you know, you maybe weren't even able to see it right now when you started it because of a limited technology or budget or whatever. And so just be looking for ways. Cuz like I said, it's less, I think, I personally think it's easy to make digital about being flashy, um, or whatever, looking good to parents or other youth pastors or other people in ministry, whatever.

Nick Clason (40:15):
But I think it's far less about that for me at least, and it's more about how effective can I be in spreading the message of Jesus with all the tools that he's given to me. Yeah. Like, I'm, I'm alive in 2022 with access to podcast microphones and phones that can take incredible videos and pictures, like mm-hmm. , how am I going to use steward those things to reach the most amount of people, you know, that have an audience to reach. So I think that's, that would be my challenge to whoever's listening is think what Dare said, think through all the things that, with intentionality, Um, and then just be open, you know, to, to utilizing some stuff.

Derry Prenkert (40:52):
So yeah. You're, you're so right on. We don't have it all figured out. Probably one of my greatest pet peeves in life are, uh, those that are convinced they have it all figured out. Um, Yeah. and I, I, I can do that at times. And usually when I'm at that point and I'm like, Oh yeah, I know how to do this. Mm-hmm. , that's the moment when I will fall flat on my face. And so, so there's a ton to be learned. There's a ton to be determined I love, or

Nick Clason (41:14):
That's when a new iPhone comes out, Right. And you're like, Oh, this changed everything. Or Covid hit and this changed everything. So yes. Totally. Good. Yes. I think we're living through that. Well, hey man. Um, anything else off top of your head? You don't have to, but I just wanna make sure you said everything you wanted to say. Didn't leave anything unsaid.

Derry Prenkert (41:30):
I think the only thing I would maybe end with is in that same vein is, um, it's everywhere. It's so much. Uh, also don't be afraid to not feel like you have to do everything, you know? Um, uh, especially to the minister that's trying to think through how to do effectively. There is a, there is a moment where less is more because your soul needs to rest, you know? Mm-hmm. , if you're finding yourself trying to, uh, late at night when you should be being around your family, invest your family or on your day off going, this is the time while Ill dive into all this digital stuff. Eh, you know what, maybe, maybe that's, uh, not worth it. No, not, maybe it definitely is not worth it. Definitely not worth, There's just, that's the part of like this thing, there's just so much out there. Mm-hmm. don't, I, I I guess it's like that idea of don't gain the digital world at the cost of your soul. Yeah. good is, is, is a big thing. And I just, I say that out of a season where I'm just seeing so many of us burn out. Um, and we're burning out in a lot of different ways, but one is because we're just constantly on and we don't hit the off switch. That's

Nick Clason (42:34):
Good. That's good. Love it, man. Well, hey, thanks again. Uh, you referenced a couple things in here. I'll toss 'em in show notes, like your resource on D ym so that all tens of our listeners can go get it. There you go. Um, anyway, thanks for hanging out man. And uh, absolutely. We'll chat again. Chat again. Yeah. Awesome.

Nick Clason (42:52):
Well, wasn't that great, Uh, super thoughtful, super helpful. Um, I hope that you found this interesting and helpful as well. Hey, um, we are online on Twitter at Hybrid Ministry. Would love to have you come hang out, follow us over there. Um, we're still growing, not super active yet, but, uh, we're well on our way. And also everything you need, show notes, links, transcripts, all kinds of stuff. You can find out hybrid ministry.xyz along with a now growing bank of archive and older episodes. So if you're just not stumbling upon us, we'd love to have you go back and check it out. Uh, you can do all of that at hybridministry.xyz Ze. Again, thanks for being with us today and we'll chat next time.

Episode 013: 3 Hybrid Ministry Lessons Learned from a Moving Company

Nick Clason — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 04:00:00 -0500

SUMMARY

In this episode, Nick recounts his experience with his most recent move and his moving company, and pulls out some wisdom he discovered along the way about how to approach ministry and more particularly, Hybrid Ministry. Learn to Think Digital, Be Kind and Be Clear!

TIMECODES
00:00-01:19 Intro and Housekeeping
01:19-05:47 Thinking Digital
05:47-09:07 Kindness goes a long way
09:07-12:17 Be Clear
12:17-15:02 Outro

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:00):
What up everybody? Welcome to episode number 13, um, of the Hybrid Ministry podcast. I am your host, as always, Nick Clason. And, um, bad news, Matt is in Spain, and, um, he just started a new job. And so I was talking to him last week on the phone and he has to figure out his computer situation. Doesn't even know if he is gonna have one or not. So listen, there may be some changes on the horizon. He may be back. Maybe I'll figure something out. Um, maybe not, but that's okay. Um, and I'll just be honest. Um, my moving truck came in today, Oh my word. It has been 10 days of sleeping on an air mattress. And I don't know if you've seen that TikTok about corn. It's such a beautiful thing. Uh, but if you go follow me on TikTok at Clason, nick, it's c l a s o n, no Y in there.

Nick Clason (01:00):
Um, I just posted TikTok about how my bed is the most beautiful thing, not corn. Sorry kid. Oh man. It's so good to sleep on a, on a regular mattress again. Uh, actually I haven't even done that yet. I am recording before I go to bed. Um, all that being said, probably gonna be a pretty short pod. Uh, but I wanted to talk a little bit about this idea. Um, and I just wanna brand it. Say, um, let's try to think digital, um, why we're not gonna think digital because of digital for digital's sake, right? But what I wanna do with thinking digital is, first of all, couple of ideas. Number one, uh, when things are made digital, it's just easier, right? And so, you know, I think there's sometimes this notion in church of the fact of like, if you're gonna follow Jesus, it's gonna be hard.

Nick Clason (01:55):
So we're not gonna make it easy on you, so suck it up. And if you wanna send up to serve, we're not gonna give it to you in two clicks. You gotta go talk to Carl, who's the head usher and get on Carl's Excel spreadsheet, right? Or whatever the case may be. But digital is just so much easier. Um, I'll give you an example. Talking about my moving company. Um, they took my stuff 10 days ago or so in Chicago and, um, no one was super clear with me about what the process was gonna be. So, uh, the next day I just called the company. I was like, Hey, so how do we like schedule this? They're like, Oh, we'll call you. And that was it. And I just, uh, there was some stuff and moving companies are never like the most upright, forthright. So there was just some stuff that like concerned me a little bit.

Nick Clason (02:51):
And so, uh, I wasn't, I was not okay with that being the only answer. And so I wanted to continue. I stayed on 'em, I stayed hot on their tail. Uh, but it was a pain in the, But let me tell you what, like, uh, they did not have an infrastructure for somebody who was interested in knowing the whereabouts of the contents of their house. Uh, their, their infrastructure was when we're ready to bring you your things, we will tell you. But until then we got nothing for you. Um, compare that to Amazon, Who has an updated ETA delivery? Lets, you know when the item is 10 stops away from your house and you can track it on the, on the map. Like, uh, what I was thinking I should have done, you know, after, of course everything's loaded and I'm here in Texas just waiting for my stuff to arrive.

Nick Clason (03:48):
So I was like, Man, I should have put some sort of find my iPhone or GPS tracking device or something on the truck just so I can know where the contents of my house were sitting. You know, like that, that has just been interesting to me. And you know, I don't think that this moving company has any desire to, uh, to change their ways, you know? But I was reaching out, I was thinking about reaching out to 'em and just saying, Hey, you know, if you had some sort of tracking system or whatever, like that would've made a my life a lot easier, but b, yours as well. Cause I wouldn't have called you 36 times trying to figure out where everything was. So think digital. How can you make it easier? How can you give, uh, an how can, how can you give a, uh, user experience one that's just a little bit easier?

Nick Clason (04:39):
So think about someone at your church wants to sign up to serve. Can they find that information on your website? If they want to attend your church, can they find that information on your website? If they want to join a small group, do they have to ask somebody what in the world the name of this small group means? Because it's some acronym that you created 36 years ago that no one even really remembers anymore, but everyone just calls it the Frog Group. And you're like, Oh yeah, what's that mean? Like, fuck yo. Yeah. Fully rely on God. Yeah, Carl named it that 10 years ago, right? I don't know what my vendetta is against Kyle, Kyle, Carl, but what, like, do you have something, um, that's clear and that makes it easier for the person? Because the fact is, like, as things get more difficult, uh, people just tend to give up. So keep that in mind. And you're like, Well, that's not committed. Yeah, it's also just human psychology. And so it's not that people aren't committed, but, but make it, make it like, make it accessible for people. Make them be able to attach to it.

Nick Clason (05:48):
All right? Another idea, um, I had on thinking digital is, is this, um, again, tales from a moving company. Um, the customer service of this moving company was awful, right? So the movers, um, in Chicago were fine. The movers in Dallas, uh, they were super kind and so, so much better than the movers that I had in Chicago. Um, the guy who sold me, uh, the truck and everything, great guy. Um, but also like, not total, not sure if he was totally truthful. And then, but the person in between, they put me in, in touch with, uh, George. So George sold me on the moving company and everything like that. They put me in touch with George's manager. Her name is Pauline. And, um, I don't know if I've ever met somebody who is, uh, seems so annoyed with human contact in my entire life.

Nick Clason (06:48):
And I'm not trying to be mean, and I'm not trying to be like a, an an awful Christian, right? But like, she had no desire to talk to me. Like her company held the contents of my entire life. And I was just calling to say, Hey Pauline, how's things going? Any idea on the eta my truck? Again, mind you, they have no way to let me know that. Like, they just give me a window and say that's when it's gonna be. So I'm just supposed to be okay with that, right? Meanwhile, everyone I'm talking to is like, that's taking forever. That's crazy. Why is this so long? And then I'm talking to them and they're like, No, it's not, it's not that long. Like, you just feel like it's long. It's really not that big a deal. Like what? What? Right? You know? So it's like I call her and I just felt like I was annoying her.

Nick Clason (07:36):
She's like, Hello. Um, and so be kind to people like figure out the best way in which you can, um, make people's lives easier. Like how, how is your interaction with that person going to make their life easier? And then let's think about how you can do that digitally. Because the fact of the matter is, if you're a church, you're probably only only interacting with someone on a Sunday morning or maybe a Wednesday night or some midweek type of deal. How can you also bring that level of customer service? How can you bring that level of joy and satisfaction to your digital channels, to your social media so that the people that are following you, so the people that are engaging with you, are seeing the joy that Jesus has brought into your life. And you're exuding that not only in your in-person interactions, but also in your digital interactions.

Nick Clason (08:26):
See, that stuff matters. And I'll just tell you, as somebody who's been on the other side of a not so joyful person and company, um, it has made my experience with this company terrible. I I will never use them again. And quite honestly, this is like the third move I've made that's been significant, where I've had to load up a truck and all that stuff, and honestly, they probably did the best job of any moving company I've ever done, uh, as far as like the actual loading and the actual wrapping of a furniture and all those types of things. But the reality is I'll never go with them again. Why customer service? They made me feel terrible and they made me feel stupid the entire way through. Last thing, be clear. Be clear with what's going on. Again, um, tales from a moving company. So, uh, this guy George, he, he books me, uh, for, um, a, you know, a price.

Nick Clason (09:22):
And he says, I'm overestimating based on what you're telling me. So you're probably gonna pay less. Guy walks in Chicago, and he's like, uh, it's actually gonna be $3,000 more than, um, what George told you on the phone. Like, hold on a minute, right? Like, that's a lot of money. And uh, of course in reading the reviews, it sounded like this was standard practice for this company. Um, but, but then, right? Like I said, then they drove away. And it wasn't until later that night or the next day, we were dawned on me, I was like, Wait a minute. I don't know how to schedule pick up. I don't know when to expect my truck. Like, I, I have no idea, right? Like, I just, there's no clarity on the process, right? And so think about if someone wants to volunteer in your ministry, are you clear on what the steps are, right?

Nick Clason (10:17):
Like I'm a youth pastor, and so to volunteer in youth ministry, in most cases, and in most churches, it's gonna be, uh, quite, quite cumbersome to be honest with you, because we're gonna be running back around checks and we're gonna be probably checking references, and we're probably gonna be having you do some sort of, uh, training, um, that, you know, some video training on, you know, sexual abuse or, uh, mandated reporting or the child protective services laws in your state, or whatever the case may, right? Like it takes a lot to get you into a position of influence and into the same room with a bunch of teenagers, rightfully so, as it should, right? But be clear, if someone's like, I wanna volunteer youth ministry, great, you're on the team, and then they get home and they have 37 emails from you, from your admin, from the screening company, from whatever, and you're calling references, and they didn't give chance to give those references a head up heads up.

Nick Clason (11:17):
Like, just be clear. And, and even if it's right, like if this company, this moving company would've told me like, Hey, it's gonna be seven to 17 days for transit from Chicago to Texas. While that's a long time, and I'm not a fan of that, Like I would've known it and I wouldn't have been freaking out quite as much wondering where in the world my things are because there was no one laid it out for me. There was no clarity. I had to go seek it out. And by the time I got to the end of the line, I got to a customer service representative who didn't really want to talk to any customers. And so if they would've laid that out, I wouldn't have had to a slug through so many phone calls, you know, call the company, press one for this, two for that, and getting myself worked up or myself frustrated all the way along the way.

Nick Clason (12:06):
So, so just be clear, right? So number one, think digital. Number two, be nice, be kind to people. And number three, be clear and lay things out. Again, like I said, um, you got the brunt of my frustration of unloading, unpacking, moving truck, but we're here, we're settled. And, uh, listen, like, say whatever you want, think whatever you want, but I've been able to keep these suckers rolling out every Thursday morning consistently. And so that's been a feat in and of itself. Like I said, now that things are hopefully settling down a little bit, uh, we'll be able to maybe line up schedule with Matt. If not, that's fine. I'm gonna keep, uh, solo pod in it and just, uh, do my best Colin Cowherd impression. Uh, but excited to be continuing on this journey with you. Uh, in the couple weeks, I wanna let you know how our digital initiative stuff are going.

Nick Clason (13:00):
We had a website conversation with our communications people last week, um, here in Texas at our church to create a more hub style, uh, website. Um, and then this week, um, so I'm like five of six, six tos in. Um, I've gone head first into a three day TikTok posting strategy. So it's a lot of forethought and planning, but, uh, this is now the second time I've done it, and so I found it to be quite a bit easier. And so, um, while it may seem daunting at first, once you kind of get your bearings a little bit, um, you'll, you'll be a little, you know, you'll be a little bit better. And then last, uh, listen, I mean, there's nothing to be proud of. And, um, I'm shooting right now on a same Sun Galaxy S nine phone, terrible quality. I just, uh, pre-ordered the brand new, uh, Google Pixel Pro seven, so it's like the best camera right there on the market, either between that or the newest iPhone.

Nick Clason (13:57):
So, um, it's weird, I'm an Apple guy for everything, but for phones, I'm, I'm the same or I'm a Android person. So when you do Google Pixel, um, and uh, check out the new phone quality on that. Uh, but if you wanna go check out what we're posting on TikTok, we're at first Colville students, um, on TikTok and Instagram, posting the exact same content both on reels there on Instagram and on TikTok. So, like I said, we're just getting started with that this week. Um, and it's gonna be a lot of me on there. I'm gonna try and diversify it with my team here in the coming weeks, but just wanted to get things up and rolling, uh, there on TikTok. So, hey, thanks for hanging out. Appreciate it. Uh, love to hear from you guys. We're hybridministry.xyz online. We're also @hybridministry on Twitter. And, uh, we'll talk to you next time. See you guys.

Episode 010: Common Myths about Generation Z and how to Reach them in 2022

Nick Clason — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 04:00:00 -0500

In this short solo episode, Nick unpacks a HubSpot.com article about common Generation Z myths in marketing and he relates those to and draws parrallels to what he sees happening in the church. How can we adjust some of our approach, what we do, and how we attempt to evangelize and disciple teenagers, and the future attenders of our churchs.

SHOWNOTES
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/gen-z-myths?utm_campaign=Marketing%20Blog%20-%20Daily%20Emails&utm_medium=email&utm_content=223400490&utm_source=hs_email

TIMECODES
00:00-00:35 Myths about Generation Z
00:35-3:34 Why do we keep focusing on Gen Z?
3:34-6:04 Myth 1: Gen Z is obsessed with fast fashion
6:04-8:22 Myth 2: Data and Privacy are irrelevant to Gen Z
8:22-10:43 Myth 3: TikTok is the best place to reach Gen Z
10:43-14:51 Myth 4: Put a product in front of Gen Z and they will buy it
14:51-17:15 Outro

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:01):
What's up everybody and welcome to another episode of the hybrid ministry podcast, solo pod this morning. Uh, I mentioned several weeks back, uh, that I had just given notice to my church. Um, and so I'm kind of in a little bit of a transition. And so I'm from church and Chicago to a church in, uh, Dallas, Texas. And so got weird travel schedule going on. So me and Matt's, uh, schedule is having a hard time lining up. So, uh, today I just wanted to chat through just a quick couple of generation Z. Um, miss, uh, and the first thing I wanted to do with that is, uh, I pulled this article from a HubSpot article. I'll link it in the show notes, super interesting. And obviously HubSpot is not a Christian company. And so they're focused more on marketing than they are, you know, like on the church or whatever.

Nick Clason (00:53):
Uh, but what I wanted to say was I wanted to say, why, why do we keep honing in on gen Z? Um, I think, uh, I've just had like a, I don't know, a realization over the last little bit that like churches are, um, built, I think for, for older generations, you know, they're, they're, they're doing it the way, um, it's always been done. Um, and I think that there is probably a rethink that needs to take place. And I think that when you say that to, to maybe some older generations, gen X, um, boomer, there's just an immediate knee jerk of like, you know, you can't get rid of this, you can't get rid of that. Maybe the Sunday morning se sermon, um, the way we dress, the way we do things like, and I get that, right. There's a, there's a safety and a comfort in, um, just the traditions and the habits that have been built.

Nick Clason (01:47):
But I think gen Z is actually a really interesting case study because, and the reason I think it's important is because I don't know that the church is being super, um, relevant to reach them. I think that the church is doing things the way it's always been done. I think you look across the landscape of, uh, church leadership. The majority of church leaders are older in their forties, fifties, some even in their sixties. Um, and you know, like you, you hate to like categorize anybody, but they may just be kinda like hanging on until retirement. And so are they really looking to innovate? Are they really looking to reach and like, sure they're looking to reach, um, but maybe they're trying to do so in such a way that is done, um, reaching people the way that, that, that they're used to reaching it and the type of model that they're built. And so the reason we keep honing in, at least I keep honing in on gen Z. First of all, like I've said before, I am a youth pastor. So that is, you know, immediately in my kinda like purview. But the second thing is I think the church needs to adapt, not because to try and reach a specific generation, but because them millennials as well and all the generations that are gonna

Nick Clason (02:58):
Come after gen Z are gonna be different. So how can the church, which is in my personal and theological opinion, the most relevant institution in the world, it is the one that has stood the test of time. And so this isn't me coming in and just like slinging mud at the church. It's me, um, caring deeply about the church and how do we help take it to what could be the next level. And so, um, just one this article, like I said, okay, so we're gonna kind of dive into this article, um, is five, five gen Z myths debunked. Um, and so the first one, it says gen Z is obsessed with fast fashion. All right. So obviously as a church, we don't give a ton of care to fashion or apparel or they're pur purchasing things. However, um, you know, I think that the, the, the thing that is interesting to pull kind of out of this point here is that they're saying that they're interested in fast fashion.

Nick Clason (03:56):
That is a myth. Um, and it's not just about what's cheapest because as I'm looking at a graph that they share question here says, does gen Z think companies should take a stance on social issues? Uh, 50% of gen Z say yes, where 26% say no, and then 24% say not sure. And I think that that piece right there is incredibly relevant for the church, because I think oftentimes as a church, we, uh, hold back our opinions because we're afraid, uh, to ostracize anybody. And I understand it and I get the notion of it. I get the importance of staying in the middle. Uh, but the people, especially the younger people that we're serving, they wanna know where we stand on things. They want us to take a stance. And that's difficult, I think, as a church because, you know, uh, gen Z tends to skew maybe a little bit more left and our church tends to skew maybe a little bit more, right.

Nick Clason (04:51):
If we're just speaking politically. And so how do you take a stance on what I think is most important is to take a stance the way that Jesus would take a stance. Uh, but that can be challenging, cuz that might go against either a, a gen Z type person or B, it might go against, uh, the rest of your church or their, their older framework. So how is the church? Do you have the courage to stand up and to take the stances that you need to take the, and the stances that matter to gen Z? Um, and I think perhaps the reason that we pull back on that as a church is because our church's stance coming from maybe a little more conservative position is gonna go against a little more liberal of a position of, uh, what gen Z you know, uh, typically cares about the final paragraph, right? Just to kind of highlight that the final paragraph of this, um, this first point says we, when we ask gen Zers who want companies to take a stance on which issues and which are most important to them, racial justice was by far the top at 69% followed by LGBTQ plus rights, 50% gender inequality, 46 and climate change,

Nick Clason (05:57):

So again, just to highlight the things that gen Z is saying is the most important thing for them. Uh, the second thing here, the second myth that is debunked is that data, privacy and security are irrelevant for gen Z. And so again, they're saying that that's a myth, right? Because you know, it says here this first paragraph, I get why many people believe this one gen Z's known for being glued to their phones, which obviously comes with the risk of unsecured and unrestricted data. Right? However, it actually is the kind of the opposite. So gen Z's looking for data security, they want that to matter. So as a church, as you're creating more, maybe hybrid opportunities online giving, um, collecting their data, how are you, um, how are you, uh, keeping track of their data and how are you ensuring that it's it's safe, right?

Nick Clason (06:47):
Uh, furthermore, it goes on to share graph and it says, uh, gen Z's more likely to purchase from brands that number one treat their employees. Well, that's at 84% that they can trust with their data as high as 83%, um, donate to a, a portion of their profits to charity 68% actively try to reduce the environmental impact. 60% are committed to diversity and inclusion. 53% and advocate for racial justice. 51% are small businesses. 46% advocate for gender equality. 42% are owned by a person of color. 39% are owned by a member of LGBTQ. Plus 38% are woman owned, 37% and advocate for LGBTQ rights, 37%. So as you can see, the purchase decisions are strongly influenced by whether or not they can trust a company with their data, second ranked highest, but also the care about the, the issues like the, the social issues. And they're looking for those things, they care about those things.

Nick Clason (07:42):
And so they're gonna trust and subsequently not trust institutions that, um, that care about the things that they care about and the church we're an institution, just, we are, we're a large institution. I know we're not really a family and it should be different. And once you get into a church, I think you typically find that in most churches, especially the ones that are healthy, um, but from an outsider, especially a gen Z outsider, looking in, they're gonna look at that institution and they're gonna have some pause. They're gonna be concerned, you know, about a couple of things. Um, and as a church, how do we, how do we best make a bridge towards them? Okay. The third myth to debunk and this, listen, this is something we've talked about in this podcast. A billion times, TikTok is the best way to reach gen Z. All right. So check out what this first paragraph here says. This is a TikTok is obviously a great space for gen Z. It offers a genuine feel to the content that no other app provides. The style is quite attractive for some of our shorter attention spans and busy schedules. And in fact, 10 TikTok is the app that gen Z uses most often, despite this surprisingly, or maybe not. It is not our favorite social media platform when

Nick Clason (08:54):
Asked gen Z of their favorite social media app, Instagram and YouTube easily took the cake with TikTok being placed as third. So Instagram was 27%. YouTube was 23%. TikTok was 14% Facebook, 11% Snapchat, 10%. So again, we've been talking about short form video content, and I, we still think that that is king and we also have never advocated against YouTube, um, and Instagram. And so, um, especially Instagram with the, with the big push that they have right now towards reals. And so TikTok, uh, obviously is short form video content. And I think TikTok has pushed other platforms to kind of invest in that and make that more of a priority. And so how can you do that? What can you be pushing towards in that way? Um, but also, uh, Matt said this a couple weeks ago, too. Um, he said, once you reach someone with, with a TikTok video, like, yeah, that's great.

Nick Clason (09:48):
And all, uh, but then like, what do you, um, how do you sell them? Like, what's the next step? What's the conversion that takes place? Cause talk's a lot more just about discovery. So you discover something, but like even when you follow people on TikTok, it doesn't necessarily show them. Cuz I think majority of people spend their time on their four up page. And so you may gain a bunch of followers on TikTok, but are you showing up regularly in other people's algorithms and then thus right as a marketer, how then do you, uh, convert that into something that's actually meaningful into getting their information as a church? Um, if you're a marketer into getting their information so that you can sell them something that's a much, a much tougher sell, especially on something like TikTok. And so it's actually beneficial and advantageous to us that that Instagram and YouTube are still higher, that we can still invest in those platforms just as, as equally.

Nick Clason (10:43):
All right. The fourth myth here put a product in front of gen Z and they will buy it. So it says even though they gravitate towards TikTok style content doesn't mean they're receptive to just any form of short form video. Um, subsequently it says how, you know, how does gen Z prefer to discover new products on social media? Uh, 41% says through short form video. So again, that underscores what we've been saying, 36 through ads or sponsored content 32 through a feed post 29 through social media shops where purchase app happens through a story post, uh, 25% and then through an influencer 25%. All right. And so basically they there's, they just, just prefer to discover things maybe through TikTok reels or other short form videos. Um, but they don't want to imposed on them. Right. And so, uh, it actually, it goes on to say here in a world where we often feel are made to feel powerless, we strongly value a sense of autonomy and agency help us feel empowered through your actions.

Nick Clason (11:45):
So think about that as a church, um, we're pushing something, um, we're not selling anything, right. Um, but, but there is a level of decision that needs to be made specifically with regards to Jesus and with regards to the gospel. So how do we put the agency back in the hands of the people that we're trying to reach? Um, and a message, right. John 14, six, I am the way the truth and the life, the the is a very exclusive article there. Um, meaning that Jesus is putting and positioning himself as the person of the foremost authority. He is the way to the father. So how do we communicate that message in a culture? Um, and to a generation that they don't wanna be told what to believe. They don't wanna be told what to do. They wanna make the decision for themselves. They wanna be given the options.

Nick Clason (12:37):
And then they want to look around, see what their friends are thinking, um, or come to those decisions. So how do we as a church position and posture ourselves to not make it all about us, but instead to make it about the students that we are reaching. Okay. Um, and then the fifth myth here, um, word of mouth is a great way to reach gen Z, right? And I know that this one might seem contradictory. Um, but gen Z is feeling stressed outta control, doomed, like the weight of the world lies on their shoulders. And so with all this marketing that comes at them, um, we've turned, uh, what we wanna do is we wanna, um, everybody wants to put and push. Um, everybody wants to put and push an agenda, right? But like what's, what's most important, I think is still the human to human connection.

Nick Clason (13:25):
And obviously here we are, right. We're a, a podcast talking about the way to do ministry in a hybrid way, but there's still something about that human to human connection. And they still care about what other people say. Right. I use a lawn care company based on a recommendation. I use a plumber based on a recommendation. I feel better about things based on a recommendation than, um, a bunch of things on Google. And if I don't have that right, I then will go to Google or go to Yelp and look at reviews. Okay. So, uh, this graph here under this, this myth here, what channels have gen Z discovered new products on in the past three months? So 57% through social media, 46% through YouTube ad 42% by searching the internet 36 in retail stores, 30 by word of mouth, 23 through ads on film, TV, uh, streaming 19 through television, and then 19 through ads on music streaming like Pandora, SoundCloud, Spotify.

Nick Clason (14:19):
So, uh, the marketing, what this is saying, right? The marketing into gen Z spaces is that they feel comfortable on social media. Um, and that's the places that they're looking. And so, you know, even like I was saying, word of mouth, it's still, it's still value. It's still important. Um, what if your word of mouth can also underscore and come alongside of some of your online things? What if it can come alongside of some of the ads that, that they're seeing, cuz that's where they're, they're discovering the, the majority of what they, um, are, are buying and what they're purchasing.

Nick Clason (14:51):
So, Hey, listen guys, again, appreciate you for being here. Uh, sorry for the, the format. Sorry. Matt's not on. Um, but uh, just, I read the article. I found it super interesting and thought, man, there's a lot of like implications for the church. Um, we are, we're moving into a different age and you know, I think that the church is, I mean, I don't think I know that the church, uh, will prevail. It always has. It always will. Um, but the generations behind it are less and less, um, interested in just, uh, buying into it, hook, line and sinker. And so how do we as churches, position, posture, ourselves to make, to make the most effective impact in the lives of generations, these students, because before we know it, they're gonna be the ones that are in their twenties and then thirties and forties, and they're gonna be the ones in our churches.

Nick Clason (15:41):
And so we can't just keep doing things the way that we've always been doing it. Digital is incredibly important to them and the lifestyle that they're living. So how do we, as a church also find ourselves into their lives through digital means through marketing, through advertising now because we're trying to market Jesus, but because we're trying to, to reach people who are far from him and who are spending their time on these types of platforms and in these types of spaces and are becoming more and more comfortable with it. And just because they're comfortable with it and we may be less and less comfortable or even frankly uncomfortable with it, uh, doesn't mean we shouldn't, uh, force ourselves to, to figure it out and learn it and work through it. So thank you guys again for hanging out. Give us a like a subscribe. I mean, we would love to hear from you, um, from a, a review, just pull, open your purple podcast app on your iPhone and leave us a five star review, um, and a rating that would be incredible.

Nick Clason (16:43):
We are online at [hybridministry.xyz](hybridministry.xyz) and on Twitter at hybrid ministry. Look forward to connecting with you there. Hey, listen, like I said, I am in the middle of a little bit of a transition once things get settled a little bit, um, look for quite a bit more resources information, um, uh, you know, downloadables freebie stuff that we're gonna be given away, uh, really looking forward to growing and expanding the community and our reach here on this podcast. So again, thanks for hanging with us and we will talk to you next time.